Harry Potter and the prophecy as it was
by aishwarya karunanidhi
Summary: UP FOR ADOPTION.. Harry finds out that love and trust are his weapons. the prophecy is changed.the 4 are experimenting their elemental powers..
1. Chapter 1

**_Disclaimer:_** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Thanks to Chris Marshall for reviewing and editing the story to make it as error free as it can get. Also to my sis Arunima and my friends Anukriti and Yuvraj for relentlessly hearing me go on and on about Harry Potter and supporting my decision to write when all others thought I'd officially gone mad.

**Harry Potter and The Prophecy As It Was**

Chapter 1: At Privet Drive

"Hey boy! Clean up your room and don't expect us to bring food up to your room again. Your aunt is not your maid. I want to see clean dishes when I get down for breakfast tomorrow. " shouted Vernon and banged the door shut to Harry's room.

It had been a week since Harry returned from Hogwarts and was still grieving over Dumbledore's death.

Ron had been sending him letters everyday just trying to tell him what's going on at the burrow. Harry had been sending pig back without a reply. Every time he wanted to write something, he just could not.

This time pig had come with a chocolate frog and not a letter. When Harry opened it, the photograph was of Dumbledore. After sometime the photograph became blank. Harry grabbed a parchment and wrote "thanks a lot mate" and sent it back to Ron

Just as the owl flew out of the window Uncle Vernon entered Harry's room. Harry knew he was in trouble when he saw the anger on his Uncle's face but was surprised when he turned around and left the room, slamming the door behind him. Harry could hear Vernon talking to Petunia just outside the door, "that boy needs to leave, it just won't do. He's not been contributing in any way since he came."

Harry slumped down on his bed and cried into his pillow. The air above him started swirling causing the letters from Ron to fly around erratically. Hedwig flew down to him with a blank piece of parchment and nipped at him. Harry looked up and asked "whom do u want this letter delivered to?" Hedwig hopped to the books.

Harry smiled for the first time after Dumbledore's death. He sat down at his table and thought of what he could write and then started.

_Dear Mione_

_I don't know what to write but I just feel the need to get this out. I don't know if I want you and Ron to be my friends anymore. It's better than having to watch either of you die because you are my friends. I can't bare the thought that anyone related to me is put at a risk. I'm going to tell Ron the same but you know how he is, at least I can count on you to understand the logic behind it. Please explain it to Ron._

_Love  
Harry_

He wrote a similar one to Ron, and then he rolled up the parchments and tied it to Hedwig's claw to be delivered to Ron and Hermione. Just as Hedwig left, Harry felt as if he would burst with so much of grief accumulating within him.

The next morning the Dursley's were watching the news, while eating their breakfast. The weather outside had become unusually dull for July. There was hardly ever a day when the sun shined throughout the day, but this morning at seven in the morning, all one could see was a thick layer of black clouds.

Meanwhile at the Granger house Hermione got out the shower sadly. Her eyes bloodshot from crying most of the the night. She had received Harry's letter just as she was going to bed and read it several times before falling asleep. Her sleep was interrupted multiple times by nightmares of losing her friends. Harry, Ron and Ginny were the only real friends she had, and she would willingly give her life to protect any of them. She shook her head to clear her thought and got down to writing a letter to Ron.

_Dear Ron_

_If you receive any letters from Harry do not take it to heart and don't jump to conclusions. He is really miserable now. He just lost Dumbledore. I know you feel sad about Dumbledore too, but to Harry he was like a grandfather he never had. And that has brought back his grief from Sirius death to surface. Also Ron, I don't really know if you'll understand but he has lost all desire to live except to fulfill his destiny. He needs us now more than ever._

_Luv  
Hermione_

She had tied the letter to Hedwig and just as she sent the letter to Ron, pig flew in and perched on the table where Hermione put some owl treats for Hedwig last night. She opened the letter to find another letter drop out of it. She read the first one.

_Dear Mione_

_I'm not sure how to tell you this because I'm not the person one can expect to express emotions but Harry is really depressed. I've been writing letters to him everyday about knickknacks of what is going on at the Burrow and the Wizarding World in general. He hasn't replied to even one. I thought he might take time to get over Dumbledore's death, but I received a letter from him last night and I'm a little worried about him. I'm posting that letter as well so that you can analyze it. I really would like to help but I think he needs to talk to you first before I can be of any help._

_Luv  
Ron_

The letter that Harry had sent Ron was on the same lines as Hermione had received.

Hermione immediately wrote back to Ron

_Ron,_

_I'm so sorry, I should not have underestimated you. I'll go over to Privet Drive at twelve. From what I know the Dursley's go out on Saturdays for lunch. Ill let you know what happened. Please send pig back so I can send you a mail when I return._

_Hermione_

She went to the kitchen where her parents were having their breakfast. "Sorry I got a bit late mom" she apologized as her mother got up to make more toasts and she started on her copy of the daily prophet which had just been delivered by a brown Tarny owl. Nothing in particular had happened except for the small column about the weather being unusual. A gusty wind being reported around London along with a bout of rain during the night. The rain had subsided by the time Hermione got to the kitchen.

"Dad do you have any plans for the day" she asked her father who replied " nothing much dear, your mother and I need to do some shopping. What did you have in mind?"

"I need to visit Harry dad, would it be possible to drop me off at his place or Diagon Alley, I could Floo to Mrs. Figg's place and walk to the Dursley's" she enquired.

"We are going towards Diagon Alley, privet drive is a bit off our course, will you be okay if I drop you at Diagon Alley" he asked.

"Of course dad, I'll be back for supper, when are you planning on leaving." she asked.

"Around ten, is that okay with you, we wanted to be back before the weather changes for the worse again. Those meteorological guys have not been doing their jobs right. They said it would be sunny" he said as he looked out of the window.

Hermione got up to leave when her mother called her "Hermione, you haven't touched your toast dear, are you fine?"

Hermione sat down at the table again and apologized to her mother. "I'm sorry mom, I'm just worried about Harry, that's all" and then finished her breakfast. At ten her mother called for her "are you ready dear?"

She came out of her room, she wore a baby pink flannel jacket and jeans which had a secret wand holster. She carried her wand with her just to be cautious in Diagon Alley.

Soon they reached leaky cauldron and Hermione hugged her parents and assured them that she'll be back by 8 at night.

She entered leaky cauldron as her parents drove away.

"Hi tom! May use your fire place please" she asked the inn keeper who nodded before entering the cellar to get more Butterbeer.

She threw in the Floo powder and stepped into the green flames shouting "Figgs residence".

She was greeted by a tabby cat and called out for Mrs. Figg who came out of the kitchen. "Hello Mrs. Figg, I'm sorry to drop in unannounced, I wanted to meet Harry, would it be alright if I came around seven to go back home" Hermione asked.

"Sure dear, feel free to come by anytime, I'm myself worried about that boy. Mrs. Dursley tells me that the boy doesn't come out of his room except to do the dishes and hasn't stepped out of the house at all since he came. But how are you going to meet see him, his uncle and aunt are at home." She asked Hermione for which Hermione replied "I thought they would be going out for lunch Mrs. Figg. I don't want to impose but would it be possible for you to ask for Harry to watch over the cats while you go out, they'll never let him out to meet me."

"Yes that can be done, I had to go and meet professor McGonagall anyways, so the two of you can chat here till I get back, just give me ten minutes dear." She said and walked off to her bedroom.

She came out of the room and asked Hermione to watch over her cats and help herself with the biscuits in the jar.

Mrs. Figg left and Hermione picked up the tabby cat and sat by the fire place waiting for Mrs. Figg to return with Harry. Meanwhile at the Burrow, Ron was in his room when Hedwig arrived, he started reading Hermione's letter and thought to himself "she must think I'm really thick to have written this letter." And just as he was about to finish the first one, pig came in through the window and flopped on his bed tired of all the scurrying back and forth without any rest. After he finished the first one, he read the next letter.

He was so worried about Harry after he had received the letter from Harry last night that he dint even think about anything except how it would go between Hermione and Harry.

Questions like what would happen if Hermione could not talk him out of it kept going through his head with a myriad of answer to that question. He shook himself up, he thought "if there is anyone who can help Harry now, its Hermione and she is doing that."

He heard his mother call him for breakfast and went down to the kitchen. Ginny was already at the table and Arthur was reading the newspaper. Ron sat in his place at the table and filled up his plate with toasts and spread some jam on it but his thought drifted to the day he had met Harry at the Kings Cross station and all those things that they had done together at Hogwarts.

The adventures, when they drove his fathers enchanted car to school and had been nearly expelled, and all those rules they had broken together. His eyes filled with tears at the thought that Harry was put in such a situation where he was stating to blame himself for everyone's death.

"I would gladly die being his best friend rather than live without his being my best friend, he's more than a just a friend, he more like a brother to me." Ron thought to himself.

Ginny got up to help their mother, when she noticed Ron staring at his toast. This was very unusual of Ron to do. "He must be really upset over something" she wondered and said "Ron! Can I talk to you after breakfast". Ron looked up in surprise, Ginny's voice having cut his train of thoughts; he could not comprehend what had just been said to him.

Ginny understanding this added" its just about some potion" Ron just nodded.

He finished his breakfast and went to Ginny's room. Ginny locked the door after he entered and asked him what was wrong.

Ron looked up at her, he dint want to burden her even more than she already was with her break up with Harry, but he could not bare it any longer and told her how miserable he felt about everything and that Hermione was going to talk to Harry and that he would have to wait till night to get to know what had happened.

By the time Ron finished his account of what Harry was going through, they were both in tears. Ginny reached up to Ron and hugged him. After sometime when they regained their composure, Ginny spoke "Ron, I don't know how to explain it better than saying I love Harry and on the day of Dumbledore's funeral, Harry broke up with me, it felt like my soul was being ripped apart, but there was such a conviction in Harry's eyes that I feared opposing his decision then. Hermione is going to have a lot of work at hand to convince Harry about it otherwise".

For the first time Ron saw what had become of his sister. Her eyes had lost their mischief, her skin had become pale and her hair had lost their shine and become limp without life. He just dint know what to say. He sat with her leaning on his shoulders. His agony now doubled. This was not how life should be for anyone. There was absolutely no hope in Ginny's eyes.

Nobody noticed her at the Burrow because of Bill's wedding next month. Everyone, especially Molly was busy with preparations.

Ron looked at Ginny and asked "want to race on broom, I'm loosing it sitting here" she agreed and they left with their broom. They mounted their brooms but instead of racing they just flew in spiral around the Burrow climbing in altitude. Both just chatting about the days they had together, at home, before joining Hogwarts. Ron started shivering and realized that they needed to get back to the ground. "It's been long since we talked this way. Its fun being with you even though you like my best friend more than you like me" said Ron for which Ginny replied "oh! Come on Ron! Don't get all possessive now. I'll always be your little sister, you know that and moreover my relationship with your best mate is out of question, so better I don't remind myself about that" and laughed an empty laugh.

They both went up to Ron's room to play chess. After around 25 games, 4 of which Ginny won and a draw, Ginny looked up at Ron and said "you must be really depressed to have lost 4 matches Ron" for which Ron looked up at his sister and asked "it took you 4 lost matches of chess to realize I'm depressed when I've been crying my eye out since morning?"

Ginny replied "I prefer not to think these days, its better to keep it off than to deal with the hurt". They got up and went for lunch. They decided to go to Diagon Alley and meet Fred and George after lunch.

__________***_____________________

Mrs. Figg rang the bell at the Dursley's, Petunia opened the door and greeted her "Good morning Arabella, how are you? What brings you here?" Mrs. Figg replied "I'm sorry to disturb you like this dear, but I had some urgent work in Bristol. Would it be a problem if I asked your nephew to sit for my cats? I should be back by 5".

Petunia thought for a moment, but realized that she should welcome the opportunity to have Harry out of their house and replied "It wont be a problem Arabella. I'll call him in a moment, please feel at home" and guided Mrs. Figg to the sitting room.

Mrs. Figg was not made to wait for too long, and as soon as Harry came they both left.

They walked silently till they reached Mrs. Figg's home. Mrs. Figg knocked at the door and Harry asked "who is there Mrs. Figg? Have any of your relatives come to visit you" but before she could answer Hermione pulled Harry inside so that no one outside could see her there and hugged him. Harry was shocked to see Hermione there and blurted out "why are you here?" Mrs. Figg came in and said "you two be comfortable dears, I've to go to Hogwarts. I'll be back by 5", she spoke lightly in Hermione's ears and said "you might want to call that red head boy as well, he's been writing to Harry every day" and then she shouted "Hogwarts" into the green flames and was gone.

Hermione led Harry to the fire place and pushed him on the couch and sat down on the rug facing him. "you know Harry" she started "I used to go to Bloomingdale Elementary School before I joined Hogwarts. By the time I finished 5th grade I had read and understood all off 8th grade subjects. The teachers loved me, my classmates always came to me when they could not understand something. I was content with my life until I got you for a friend." Harry looked at Hermione trying to decide if she had come to say goodbye to him, but she continued "you know why?" he replied "because ever since you met me you ran the risk of being dead or worse expelled" a small crack of smile appeared on the corner of Hermione's lips and she said "no Harry, because for the first time in my life I felt I was loved in spite of my intelligence and not because of it."

Harry said "you do make it easier for Ron and me" Hermione shook her head and said "you are not getting away from my nagging you to study by saying that Harry, but what I'm trying to say is there was nobody who would have fought a full grown mountain troll to save me even after me being so rude that day. I don't have siblings Harry but since then you have been like a brother to me and I'm not leaving you ever." She held his hand and squeezed it gently before continuing. "I would rather be your friend and die fighting besides you than live without having you for a friend, Ron feels the same as well and you can imagine how stressed out Ron must be to actually put his feelings and emotions into a letter."

Harry had tears in his eyes, he said "I cant watch you die" but before he could continue Hermione interrupted him "put yourself in my place Harry. If I were the one destined to defeat Voldemort, how would you feel if I asked you to leave? You would probably jump in front of me to take a killing curse, how can you expect me to be different. Harry I'm going over to the burrow, I'll be back in 10 minutes, do you mind? And do you have a wand" she asked Harry quickly bouncing up to her feet.

Harry replied "I do have my wand, even though I cant use it and no it wont be a problem , but I still need to talk to you before I can talk to Ron, please don't bring him here now" she nodded and left through the Floo. Harry picked up Mrs. Figgs cat and scratched her behind her ears, the cat purred and settled back on his lap. It was warm and he dozed off, he hadn't slept for days.

Ron and Ginny were startled to see Hermione arrive at the Weasley Wizarding Wheezes and before anyone could say anything Hermione stepped out and hugged Ron, who very surprisingly hugged her back without getting embarrassed, then she turned and hugged Ginny. She explained "Molly told me you would be here. I think I'm getting through to Harry but he has this really distant look. I just wanted to make sure you are ok Ron. I'll come to the Burrow to chat tomorrow but I need to get back to Harry now. Where are Fred and George?" Ginny said that she'll get them and left Hermione and Ron to talk. Ron began "Hermione!! There area few things that I need to tell you " he looked down and took a deep breadth and then looked back into her eyes "I'm in love with you and have been for quite a while, I should have told you this 3 years back but now is as good as any other time . will you go out with me?" Hermione was shocked but recovered quickly "what if I'm already in love with someone else lets say victor Krum or Harry?" Ron replied "I know you love Harry as a brother Mione, I can see it in you and as for Krum, he was just a school girl's crush but if you did love someone, I know that Harry and I would have known about it. We are after all your best friends, but I'm not pressurizing you into saying yes to it, whatever you say we still remain best friends." Now Hermione stared at Ron with a gaping mouth and then she suddenly realized it and closed her mouth "was this the same immature friend of hers who teased her all the time." She thought to herself. She replied "if you had asked me to the Yule Ball in the fourth year I would have said yes and I was angry at you then for not even giving a second thought about me. I was angry because I loved you then and I do now."

Ron asked "are you saying a yes Mione?"

"Yes" she replied "I'm saying a yes" and then they hugged each other. They broke away from each other and Hermione said "Ginny is miserable I can see that, but there is hardly anything we can do about it". Ginny returned with Fred and George, Hermione hugged them both and she asked "do you guys by any chance have a Portkey, I need to set it up in Harry's room so that we may visit him"

Fred asked "why don't you just Apparate, you could side along Ron. Its much more convenient. She replied "we decided to wait till Harry gets his license so we could do it together for the first time." Fred and George looked at each other and winked.

"Well well" said Fred "do we have a Portkey she is asking for?"

"Do we?" said George "hmm, we do have, but do you think we can trust her, oh brother mine"

"Trust her we could" said Fred "after all she just said yes to our brother here"

"of course" said George "she's like family now, but what'll we get out of this"

Both Hermione and Ginny hand their hands on their hips and Ron just rolled his eyes. "say Hermione" said Fred "do you agree to not confiscate our products at Hogwarts when you become the Head Girl?"

"I'll confiscate any artifact or product of your shop if I see it but I promise to not go looking for it if I become the Head Girl, and I don't know where you get such ideas from" said Hermione.

"She's a match for us , oh brother mine, do you think its fair" asked Fred "its fair enough and moreover its for Harry, for whom we have a soft spot in our hearts, so we'll give it to you for free." Said George.

They left to get the Portkey. Ginny turned to them and raised her eyebrow a bit and Ron explained, "I asked her out and she accepted when you had gone to call the twins and thanks for understanding that we needed to be alone. Don't look at me like that I didn't plan it." Ginny smiled and hugged her brother "I know Ron, I was just teasing you, congratulations" and then hugged Hermione and whispered "now I have a sister".

Fred and George came with three rings one silver, one gold and one bronze "we have charmed it so that when you activate silver and gold rings it will take you to the one wearing the bronze ring and when you activate it again you'll be taken to the place from where you activated the ring the first time. The bronze ring only provides as a location provider. It can be charmed to work like the other rings but its better that Harry keeps just this till the summer ends, anyways he'll be able to Apparate after that. To activate your ring say Portus" George sighed and said "that was enough seriousness for the day and now we have our fun stuff to do, so see you later" with that they Disapparated.

It was more than 15 minutes since Hermione had come out to the joke shop. She got up to leave; she promised Ron and Ginny that she'll come by the next day. She also said "you wanted to tell me a few things Ron, you told me just one of them, I know what the other is, I'll talk about it to Harry." When she reached Mrs. Figg's place, she found Harry sleeping on the couch curled up with the kitten which was very comfortably asleep as well. She looked outside, the wind had settled at least temporarily and it had been raining heavily the previous night and had rained again this afternoon. The ground was water clogged when she had left for Weasley Wizarding Wheezes, but now the ground was clear and soft and the light green leaves which had sprouted shimmered with droplets of rain reflecting the yellow rays of sun which had just appeared.

Hermione looked at the book shelf and found an old book with leather casing titled "wizarding laws for adoption". She wondered "did Mrs. Figg want to adopt a wizard or a witch even though she was a squib and her husband a Muggle". Not wanting to wake Harry up, she settled with the book on the rug leaning a bit on the couch on which Harry was sleeping.

She read about three quarters of the book and looked at her watch. It was 3 o'clock which meant she had been reading for the past 2½ hours now. She noticed that Harry was still sleeping peacefully so she continued reading. She was surprised when she came across the last but one chapter. It was on adopting siblings. From what she had read there was no such law equivalent in the Muggle world. She read it carefully. The gist of it was that "any adult wizard or witch who wishes to give another the protection of that clan may choose to adopt a wizard or a witch as their brother or sister. The difference in age not exceeding 7 years. Also if the wizard or witch already had siblings by birth then the sibling being adopted cannot be of the same gender as the sibling by birth. In case one wants to adopt more than one wizard or witch who are siblings by birth, then it is permitted only after getting an oath that they will not be separated from each other forcefully." Hermione closed the book shut without reading the last chapter. It was as though the book had been there for her to read and she sat staring at Harry.

Harry woke up at 4 and saw that Hermione was sleeping on the rug curled up next to the fire. "she must have slept off waiting for me to wake up. Goodness knows for how long I've been asleep". He thought and looked at his watch. He was feeling hungry. It had been days since he had had anything proper to eat after all. He fiddled with the biscuit jar and started munching on some chocolate biscuits. Hermione woke up from all the noise that Harry was making. Harry sat down next to her and offered her some biscuits. She took them and sat in silence for a while before asking, "there is something I've to ask of you but before that I need to know how do you think of me?" the question startled Harry, but he replied a bit hesitantly "Hermione ! I was just talking about not wanting to have anything to do with you and Ron. What you said makes sense and if I was in your place, the thought of leaving you would not even cross my mind, but I don't know how to deal with so many deaths. You know how I feel about Ron and you. What is it you had in mind."

Hermione drew in her breath and spoke "Harry what I'm going to ask of you is big and it is a gift I want from you on your birthday. I want you to adopt me as your sister, while I could adopt you, it won't hold the benefit of providing you with the clan protection. So what do you say?" Harry gasped "Mione! It's not me giving you a gift, its you giving me one, but I've never heard of anything like that before." Hermione shoved the law book onto Harry and opened the pages for him to read and slowly slid next to him and whispered "you know Harry, we cant stop living the way we want to and stop loving the people we love. Doing so would be giving into fear. We have to lead a normal life otherwise it's almost like Voldemort's won this war. It is war Harry. People will be hurt. We can bare the physical hurt but its difficult to go on living without hope".

Harry nodded "I guess you are correct as always and I'm being a prat as always. I just wish Sirius and Dumbledore were here to fight the war with us and thanks Hermione. I would be honored to be your brother." They hugged each other.

After quite a few minutes of savoring the new bond they withdrew " Harry there is something else I need to tell you about" Hermione added meekly " Ron and I are dating each other. He asked me out this afternoon when I went over to meet him"

Now Harry gave a wicked grin and said "now I get to have fun with him, get him to realize how difficult he made it for me. About time you two realized it any way" and then his face fell again thinking about Ginny.

"Please Harry, don't do this to yourself and Ginny" Hermione pleaded "I met Ginny today and I'm worried for her sake. She looks sick. She looks like she has no reason to live. She is just existing. And she wont fight with you about it because you already have such a huge burden that she thinks one less might help. But I've known you for so long Harry that I can see you fading away without her as well. You need her as much as she needs u." suddenly an idea struck her. "I've got to leave now. Mrs. Figg must be about to return. I'll see you tomorrow. Just wear this ring" she produced the ring from her pocket and made sure Harry wears it. Then left for the twins joke shop.

She met George first. "Hi George, I need more help, I need you to charm my ring to carry more than one person and to also locate Ron's ring and take me to him. Is that easy for you?"

"Sure Mione ! just give me a second to get my advanced charms book", and went to the stock area, he returned with the book and asked "Mione, tell me how did you know that I was George and not Fred, my own mother gets confused at times" Hermione smiled a bit before replying "I noticed you are ambidextrous and Fred is right handed, so when I look at your work coat, its got potion stains an both your sleeves till the elbow whereas Fred has potion stains on right sleeves till elbow and a little bit of stain on the left gloves and cuff."

"Well, at least now we know how to confuse you, just exchange our coats" George laughed "your ring is charmed to carry 5 people now and you must specify the location you want to reach, say Portus bronze to get to Harry and Portus silver to get to Ron. Saying Portus will take you back one hop at a time" Hermione thanked George and left through Floo for Leaky Cauldron. From there she took a taxi back home. She was back home by 7.

Mrs. Figg had returned home within minutes of Hermione leaving. Harry thanked Mrs. Figg and walked back to no. 4 privet drive, thinking about how selfish he had been to drive Ginny away from him, but what could be done now.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Disclaimer:_** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Harry Potter and The Prophecy As It Was**

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Chapter 2: Things can get hot after a rain

The next morning Hermione woke up early got dressed up by 7 and went down for breakfast. She told her parents that she'll be at the Burrow for the day. "mom there is something I've to tell you alone after the breakfast" she said.

After finishing breakfast Mrs. Granger walked with Hermione to her room and they both sat on the bed. " mom, you know Ron" Mrs. Granger nodded " well, we are in love" Hermione paused for a moment to let it sink in.

"But dear, you were just friends till yesterday, you need to go out with him before deciding that you are in love" said a confused mother.

" mom, we have been best friends for 6 years of which 4 years we have been bickering over stupid things. There are things I've not told you because I don't know how to, but Ron has risked his life to save mine many times and sat besides my hospital bed through the nights when I have been wounded, we've been dating each other without realizing how we felt for this long. Now that we do realize it, I don't want to hold myself back from it" she tried to convince her mother.

Her mother smile ' I am sure you are right again. I'm happy for you dear. I know Ron is a very nice boy."

Hermione kissed her mother " I'll be back by 7 tonight. I'm going over to Harry's room before going to the Burrow. Bye" and she said "portus bronze" and disappeared from her mother's sight.

Harry was still cuddled up in his bed when Hermione arrived in his room. She thought to herself " at least I know the rings can surpass the protection charms and the wards on the house" and then she sat on Harry's bed to wake him up " Harry!! Wake up" she said quietly.

"what a nice dream. I wish there really was someone to wake me up like this every morning. I might even start sleeping during noon so that I can be woken up again and again. Maybe that's why Ron sleeps so much." Harry thought to himself but suddenly he felt someone touch him gently and shake him up. His eyes flew open and he say Hermione sitting besides him. "what are you doing here, you are not supposed to see me like this", he blurted out. She chuckled and added " I'm your almost sister. I can see you anyway I want to. Now get out of the bed and get ready. We are going somewhere. And before you ask, I'm not telling you where we are going but I can tell you how I got here. Your ring is a locator for my ring which is a portkey. I can reach wherever you are, anytime I want to. I promise not to barge in like this anywhere else but I've to portkey directly to your room now because of your relatives. Under other conditions I'll portkey to just out of the door and knock. Is that fine?"

Harry just nodded, he was completely shocked to be seeing Hermione in his room, he said " yeah great! Just give me 10 minutes to get ready. You may wait here and read some comics. I got them out of the garbage. Can you believe it that Dudley threw out fantastic four, batman and phantom collection. Just keep a watch on the staircase in case someone comes up, but from what I know they won't bother." He headed toward the bathroom. Harry came back to his room and eyed Hermione suspiciously 'this still feels like a dream. I had to pinch myself several times to convince myself that it is all true. I'm going to bruised all over from the pinches tomorrow." He said, a smile breaking at the corner of his lips. "Well, if you are ready, then shall we" asked Hermione taking Harry's hand. Harry nodded and felt a familiar tug at his stomach when Hermione said "portus silver".

It was half past eight when Harry and Hermione appeared next to Ron who was playing chess against himself and clearly favouring the white side. Ron got up and hugged Harry with a pat on his back, " hey mate! How are you doing? You would better loosen up a bit. I've a girlfriend who thinks more about you than me".

"oh shut up Ron" Hermione retorted " I think enough about you, anyways, Harry get your wand out. Want you to levitate this feather"

Harry raised a brow but complied anyways " wingardium leviosa" and the feather flew up and then he guided it down and cancelled the spell with a finite incantatum.

"now I want you to do the patronus charm" Hermione ordered.

Harry summoned the memory of Hermione asking him to be her brother and said the incantation "expecto patronum". The stag appeared but unlike before its body did not shimmer, it searched for dementors and when it did not find any it bowed to Hermione instead of Harry and Hermione got a message in her head "thanks for bringing me to life, but there is too much sadness to exist for long" and then it vanished into a thin wisp of grey fog.

Harry and Ron looked at Hermione for an explanation " what just happened here. Ive never seen this happening to a patronus before and to think it was Harry's."

" Harry, I'm sure you never bothered to read about the patronus. You only know how to call upon it. And what it does". Hermione's expression was that of pity but somewhere fuelled by anger. " the patronus is a part of you which you create using happy memories. We need to sit down for this, its going to take a while" they all got comfortable on Ron's bed. " now where was I ? Ron try casting a patronus" Ron did and a shimmering dog appeared. It bowed to Ron and vanished with a brilliant sparkle. "Now Ron I want you to summon the memory of you beating Draco Milfoil at the last year's quidditch finals. I remember you were very happy about it". Ron tried but only a wisp of silver came out of the wand even though Ron was feeling really happy after reliving that days glorious victory.

"Do you two get it." Asked Hermione but both of them shook their heads "well, it's like this, the patronus derives its life from happy thoughts which basically come from love. If the memory the happiness is based on is not some form of love then the patronus is not formed. So Harry your patronus told me, that it derived its life from the luv that I gave you and not your own. You need to get your life back and stop grieving. Sirius and Dumbledore will be sorely missed but they won't want you to stop living."

Ron looked at Harry and said "I never thought I'll say this, but here it is" he drew in a breath "you need to let Ginny into your life mate. When you did the levitation charm, it confirmed that your magic is intact and that only your love is your problem part. Its not a situation one must be in, but is still manageable. I saw Ginny clean her room yesterday to let me in. she did it manually like a muggle. I've not seen her do that since she was 9 unless mom was around. She used Fred's wand to scourgify the room then. Her magic is faltering, and I don't know how to help her. I never knew before magic, life love and hope and very deeply connected. She's loosing the links in her and so are you. I would not ask this of you if I felt that you dint like her, but that is not the case. I know you love her more than anyone else in this world. I don't see why you should let anyone or anything get between you and Ginny."

After a long silence Harry stood up and asked with a sad smile " I've messed it up thoroughly, haven't I ?" they both nodded " is Ginny in her room, can I see her" Harry asked Ron. Ron answered " yes she must be still sleeping. She generally used to wake up at 6 but these holidays she's been waking up much later. Maybe she feels better when she's asleep. You go to her. I'll see to it that you are not disturbed."

Harry knocked on Ginny's door but when he dint hear any reply he decided to open the door knob and enter. What he saw shocked him. He closed the door behind him and walked upto Ginny's bed. He kneeled down on the floor to be on level with the bed. He brushed away the hair from her face and saw a tear roll away from the corner of her eyes. He called out softly "Gin, wake up, its me". He had to try hard to control the tear in his eyes that threatened to rollout any moment. He brushed her tear away and called again "Ginny, I love you, please wake up". She opened her eyes slowly and sat up on the bed and cried silently. Harry got up and hugged her but she dint respond. He said "I'm really sorry Ginny. I had no right to leave you for my selfish reasons. I promise I'll never leave you ever again. Please forgive me. I'll do anything to make it upto you ."

Ginny didn't reply to anything, she had stopped crying but was not responding to anything. For half an hour he tried talking to her but she just stared at him blankly.

"oh god what have I done?" Harry thought and then grasped Ginny's hand with one hand and put his other arm around her shoulder to draw her closer to him. He sat on the bed and whispered " I love you Ginny. More than I could have ever imagined possible. Please don't give up on me now. I've just found love. Please don't take it away from me."

Ginny's temperature started raising and she was sweating profusely now. Harry made her lie down on the bed and ran to get Ron and Hermione. They both sat besides her. Harry got a towel out and ran to the bathroom to wet it. When he returned, he started giving Ginny a cold press. They were shocked to see water rising up as steam. Ron was on the verge of breaking down. "where is mom when you need her". Suddenly the bed caught fire. Harry and Hermione got their wands out. Hermione sprayed water on the bed and Harry blew in cold air. Then all of a sudden the Burrow started shaking violently. Hermione caught hold of Ron and Harry carried Ginny and they dashed out of the house.

" Ron this is not the time to panic, please help us in getting Ginny out of this " Hermione pleaded Ron. The earthquake stopped. Ginny was now unconscious in Harry's arms and neither Ron nor Hermione could touch her.

Harry calmed himself down. They went back into the house and put Ginny on the couch. It caught fire. So Harry sat on the floor with Ginny on his lap and focused all his love for her and let it flow through him and said " this is what it feels like to me to love you Ginny. And I feel this way only for you. There is no one else I'd rather spend my life with. Please tell me you'll let me love you. Please don't deny me this. It's the only reason I have to fight this war and survive it. Please gin, I love you".

Ginny opened her eyes, Harry saw orange flames sparkle in her blue eyes and then it started dying down. She was really exhausted and rested her entire body weight on Harry. Her head tucked under his chin. She whispered " you have to decide now Harry. Its either for life or not. You won't have a second chance, next time I won't survive the burning. Can I have some water please." Harry asked Ron to get some water for Ginny because Ron and Hermione could only barely make out that Ginny was talking. Harry held Ginny close to him and whispered back "no Ginny I won't leave ever. This is for life." He kissed her. " There is no greater reason to live than to love you and have you as my family."

Ron came back from the kitchen with a pitcher of water and a glass. Ginny drank the entire pitcher of water. Harry carried her back to her room. Hermione vanished off the charred bed and conjured a new one for temporary use. Ron and I will be in Ron's room if you need us" and they both left after giving a hug and a peck to Ginny.

Ginny spoke up "Harry! I've not slept for days. Can you please come into the bed. I need to hold you for sometime." He got under the cover and she hugged him around his waist. Harry kissed the top of her head and held onto her tightly. She was asleep within minutes. His thoughts lingered for a moment on all things that happened that day but the exhaustion of the day took his toll too and he too fell asleep. He woke up to the sound of his name being called. Ron and Hermione were looking very tense. " we don't know how to explain all this to mom and she's at the gate. The story is that the 3 of us got into a fight and we kind of lost control of things for a moment. Lets not tell her anything about Ginny alright" Ron suggested. Harry nodded and got out of the bed. Ginny woke up as well and they repeated the explanation for her and told her to just say that she dint know what happened.

Suddenly they heard molly scream, " Ron! Ginny! What have you been upto." The 4 of them rushed out to the sitting room where molly was staring at the charred couch. Before anyone could say anything Harry stepped forward and hugged molly and said " its my fault molly ! Ron and I got into an heated argument and I kind of lost my temper and that was accidental magic. I intend on replacing it. I'm sorry."

" oh never mind dear, this can be fixed but I've never heard of accidental magic after the age of 11, but then again I'm not the expert on the matter. Anyways, mind if I ask, why were you two arguing?" she enquired. Ron answered " mom, Ginny is dating Harry. How do you think I should feel about it." With a false show of anger and internally booming with joy for thinking up answer as rapidly as one would expect Hermione to. Ginny understood what Ron was trying to do and quickly added, " if you can go out with Hermione then so can I with Harry." Molly screamed and hugged both her children " this is how I come to know that my children are love. Ron you should be happy for your sister. Then she gathered Harry and Hermione into a hug " welcome to the family dears. Of course you were already family but this is so much more fun. Ok kids I've got work to do, so get out of the house."

Harry and Ginny decided to do some flying together. Ron and Hermione walked towards the forest and settled under the canopy of the trees next to the brook. " Hermione, did you understand everything that happened today. Why was Ginny bursting into flames and why was Harry the only one who cud touch her. And how did the two of you do non verbal spell." Asked Ron.

"I'm not sure Ron, my only explanation was accidental magic. But we know that it definitely does not happen after 11 because the body recognizes the magic. I'll have to research it. I wish Dumbledore was here. I'm sure he would have know the answers." She paused. " I wonder" she said a bit low, her voice filled with curiosity. " Ron, did you notice our reactions when in anger, sadness or need. Ginny heated up, I drenched he, Harry blew cold wind and there was an earthquake when your emotions were in a turmoil."

"I dint notice that, but when you put it like that, it makes sense. The four elemental powers. I think we should go to the library" Ron concluded.

Hermione's face lit up at the mention of library. " oh you are so sweet Ron, I never thought this day would come when you asked me to go to the library with you." She teased him and broke into a laugh.

"its not the kind of date I would dream about, but I'm happy to just be with you. And if library is what it takes to make you jump like this then library it is." He pulled her close and kissed her. When they broke apart they were both gasping for breath. They both laughed. Hermione teased Ron " you are red Ron, I dint know I could kiss so well". Ron retorted " hey I'm not that bad myself, you breathed in so much air when we broke apart I thought your lung would burst." They laughed again and Ron regained his composure after several fits of laughing and rolling. "its so wonderful to have you in my arms mione. I would never let you go. This was the best kiss ever. How did you get so good at it." Ron teased. Hermione looked up a bit shy and said "it was my first Ron, I don't have a record to scale it up against."

" mione, I thought you dated Victor Krum, surely you must have kissed" Ron was shocked and very pleasantly at that. " Ron, we were friends who went for the Yule ball together. That's about it. We dint date. What you heard were rumours. I just dint feel the need to justify anything to anyone. Though I do remember telling you that we were just friends. I cant understand which part of that you dint understand." She huffed.

" oh well anyways, lets forget that and while we are clarifying stuff, I might as wee tell you, that I did go out with lavender and please don't judge me on this, I was really immature, but I did it to make you jealous in return of how I when you dated krum. I'm sorry about it" Ron said looking a bit pleadingly.

"That's all settled, we agreed on it as not being an issue." Hermione said eying Ron intently. " mione, I won't question your motive even if I saw you kissing anyone. I know you love me. There would be a good reason if you did anything of that sort and I won't insult what we have between us by questioning you" Ron assured Hermione.

" when did you become this way Ron." Hermione asked Ron cuddling upto him. He replied " I realized how we depend on each other for everything. It struck me like a lightening on the day prof. Dumbledore's funeral."

Meanwhile Harry and Ginny were flying on the pitch behind the burrow. They kept flying up gradually. They reached a point where clouds were below them and the plotted land they could see earlier merged together. They could hardly see any land the sky was orange from the setting sun. Harry said " race you to the ground on the count of three." Ginny nodded. She thought " this should be a fair race, he doesn't have his firebolt." Harry shouted " 1.. 2.. go". They both plummeted towards the ground. They both focused all their power on the vertical dive. Their bodies one with their brooms. Ginny saw Harry gain over her and gave a burst of her energy but instead of moving faster the broom burnt to ashes and crumpled beneath her. Harry saw what had happened and flew onto Ginny's path and pulled her onto his broom. He decreased his speed as the ground approached and landed swiftly on the pitch.

" I'm gathering from your expression that you don't understand whatever it was that happened. But we know two things, we need to get a fireproof broom and you can beat me even when I'm on my firebolt." Chuckled Harry. Ginny was still recovering from the shock. Harry put an arm around her waist to stabilize her.

The four friends came back home as the sun started setting down. " we cant keep meeting like this everyday" said Hermione. "at least not at the burrow. Send me a letter with your suggestion. Lets go home Harry." Harry kissed Ginny and held Hermione's hand. Ron made a rotten face and said "gross mate! Please don't do that in front of me". Harry gave a wicked grin and said " watch what you say, you might be in the same place one day as I am now." Winked at Hermione and they disappeared from the burrow when Hermione said " portus".

Harry and Hermione landed in Harry's room. Hermione hugged him and said " Ron is going to be in for a big shock when he finds out that you are my brother. Lets keep it secret till then. I'll write to you tomorrow. Bye Harry. Goodnight."

Harry said " good night mione! Its been one of the best days in my life as well as one of the most terrifying ones. Thanks for getting me out of my sulking mode."

Hermione turned her portkey and said " portus". The moment she disappeared from no. 4 privet drive Vernon Dursley burst into the room. " hey boy! Its been too silent in here. Are you up to something. If I get the inkling bit of that freak stff, I'll bar the windows and have them locked. Do you understand? He barked. "yes sir" Harry replied most unenthusiastically and went to bed after having a few chocolates he had bought on the train so that he won't have to starve that summer. Sleep came by pretty easily after the emotional and physical strain of the day.

.


	3. Chapter 3

**_Disclaimer:_** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

A/N :thanx in advance to chris marshall who will be reviewing and editing the story. i'll post the edited version as soon as chris sends it across.

**Harry Potter and The Prophecy As It Was**

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Chapter 3: Mysteries Unravel.

Next morning all the four friends were woken up by the fluttering of the owl at their windows. The letters were from Gringotts wizarding bank. Harry's letter read.

_Mr. Harry James Potter _

_This is to inform you of the will reading of Albus Brian Wulfric Percival Dumbledore on the 20__th__ day of July for which you are invited as a beneficiary._

_Gringotts goblin Griphook will get in touch with you on the 19__th__ day of july at 7:00 pm._

_Regards_

_Ragnok, manager _

_Gringotts wizarding bank. _

" why am I being called for professor Dumbledore's will reading. I guess I should send a reply" thought Harry.

_Dear Mr. Ragnok_

_I wish to confirm the receipt of your letter regarding professor. Dumbledore's will reading. I would be glad to meet Mr. Griphook. Please request him to meet Miss Hermione Granger who will be able to escort him to my room. It is my kind request to not visit me directly at no. 4 privet drive._

_Thankyou_

_Regards _

_Harry James Potter._

He wrote another letter to Hermione.

_Dear mione_

_I got an invitation from Gringotts today. I'll show it you when you come over. I ask Gringotts to send Mr. Griphook to your place so that you can portkey into my room. I hope its ok. See you soon._

_Love Harry._

Then Harry tied both letters to Hedwig and sent her out. He had a bath and went to their kitchen to have breakfast. Vernon Dursley was reading the paper and discussing politiccs with petunia. " good morning uncle Vernon, aunt petunia" said Harry as he headed towards the toaster. "so you decided to show up today. You thought being on a hunger strike would get you something did you? If you are going to have any food in this house, you would better do the dishes before sleeping tonight as such you are living under our roof for free" barked Vernon.

Harry dint respond. He finished his breakfast, washed the dishes and left for his room.

He thought to himself " so that's what they think this is, a hunger strike. I would not bother with it. They would probably just let me starve to death. Mrs. Weasley must be really busy with bill's wedding to not have noticed Ginny feeling so unwell, courtesy me and she dint even hug me like my bones would break any moment. I wonder if things are ok with her. I've got about 3 weeks before I turn 17. might as well finish of the homework before then. God know where the horcrux hunt will take me."

He opened his trunk and got his books out. He thought "goodness knows who would be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Hermione would probably finish potions first get it out of the way but I'm not mione. I'll start with charms first." The 1st assignment was 16 inches of parchment on how to levitate multiple objects simultaneously, its advantages and disadvantages.

The 2nd assignment was to propose solution in the form of protective charms to highly dangerous curses by pinpointing the anomaly in the curse and using its weakness as a trapdoor to protection.

Hermione portkeyed into Harry's room. "I should have thought of portkeys long back. I'm so stupid I let you live in misery while we could have possibly been having fun. I see you have finally started with homework. Unlike you I keep the best for the last. So I got charms and ancient runes to finish." Hermione stopped to breath.

"No point beating yourself up Hermione" Harry said "Dumbledore had placed sufficient wards on the house to not let anyone be able to apparate or portkey into 100 metre radius of this house. With him gone the wards have broken. The only one that's still in place is the blood protection. There might be a few ward that the order members have cast but clearly its of no use as you have been demonstrating." He lifted his brow " you seem to be excited about something mione. Go on tell me what it is." He prodded.

"Oh its probably nothing! Ron and I decided to go to the library this afternoon. We'll let you know if there's anything significant. I just dropped by to say I'll bring Griphook and next time you send a letter I'll reply the old fashioned way" said Hermione "and It might get a bit boring for you tomorrow because Ginny and I are going shopping for dress robes to Madam Malkin's . It'll be fun if you join in but its not a compulsion. I know how you guys are about shopping."

"I'll take you up on that if you can drag Ron along. I want to see how shopping with girls is as bad as its said to be. Anyways neither I nor Ron have dress robes for bill's wedding" said Harry. Hermione smiled " well that's settled then. Be ready at 10 tomorrow" and she vanished. Harry just smiled and shook his head " I wonder if all this excitement is about going to the library or going with Ron or worse going shopping".

By 12 he had finished the 1st assignment in charms. Meanwhile Hermione portkeyed to the burrow and conveyed Harry's strenuous request that Ron go shopping with the girls and Harry. She then added with both her hands on her hip "you know, Harry is doing his homework. Don't you think its time you started yours too."

Ron's mouth dropped " Hermione! Don't you remember what happened on the day of Dumbledore's funeral. Hermione had no idea of what Ron was trying to tell so he continued, Harry said we're not returning to school and even though you dint agree with the idea, we ultimately decided that we go where he goes. So are we not going on the horcrux hunt"

Now it was Hermione's turn to look dumbstruck. She recovered quickly " what does this mean Ron? Is he planning on going back to Hogwarts this year or is he trying to hoodwink us". " No mione! I don't think it's the latter. We'll have to ask him. Hogwarts is like home to him, going back to that place was the only reason to not crush up those Dursleys. It's the 1st and only place he found love. Maybe he thinks we can join back once all this is over. And don't worry too much, he's not going to leave us.' Assured Ron.

" Ok if you say so" said Hermione " I'd better leave. I want to finish runes today and by the way when do you plan on applying for your apparition license. Get it done with soon Ron. We are going to need to apparate very often and I don't want to do it alone carrying Harry, you and Ginny". My test is scheduled on the 24th of this month, I dint tell you because you'll get all worked up about it like you do for our exams" said Ron sheepishly "I wanted my license to be a surprise".

" I would probably do that, but that's not a reason to keep it to yourself" said Hermione a tinge of frustration showing on her forehead. "calm down Hermione. I'm sorry. I should have told you but I cant practice apparition. You would have driven yourself and me crazy over all that could possibly go wrong. I'm sorry I'm saying it but that your reaction to exams. Had it been any other exam I would have told you and allowed you to quiz me for hours but what can be done about apparition" Ron rambled on.

Hermione was a bit shocked" I never thought about me intervening your studying was a problem. You won't get that from me anymore. We'll meet tomorrow. May I use your fireplace to floo to the library. I need to be alone for sometime" she said. She was clearly upset. "mione please don't be angry, I'll come with you to the library" protested Ron but Hermione deftly rejected his offer 'no Ron, I need to be alone for sometime. I'm not sure who I'm more angry at, you or myself. I'll be back in some time." With that she threw in the floo powder and left for Hogwarts. Ron sighed, he knew he had messed up what could have been a perfectly good morning. He knocked on Ginny's door. If anyone could help him out of this mess it was Ginny.

"Ginny , I need your help, I'm a prat." Cried out Ron. "ok ! what did you do this early in the morning" asked Ginny. Ron told her what had gone between Hermione and himself that morning. "it's a good assignment you are giving me" she gave a thoughtful pause " but I don't think its difficult at all Ron. You just need to assure her that you dint want her worrying over what she could not help and would gladly accept all the interfering she does for the exams. Just write a letter. Seriously don't make a mountain troll of a garden gnome. For all you know, you just have to tell her how you feel. Anyways forget about that now. I heard you guys are coming shopping with us tomorrow. Hermione told me last night. I don't think Harry knows its for bill's wedding."

" What!! Hermione told you last night! But we just decided to go shopping, I guess Hermione knew how things will work out. Harry does know its for bill's wedding. You'll have the time of your life, and you girls are going to tag us along and have our robes matched to yours." Ron said. With that Ron went to his room and wrote a letter to Hermione and sent it through pig. Ginny was counting the galleons and sickles that she had saved up. Bill had given her 30 galleons for the robes.

Harry was in his room, his thoughts flowing in random directions "everything is feeling so good. Its just like too good to be true. Why is Voldemort lying low now that Dumbledore is gone too. I must meet Fred and George tomorrow. They might know what's going on" then his thought shifted to his former professor Lupin. "its been too long since I wrote to him. Now with Snape gone there must be no one to make him wolfsbane. I would better write to him. He started

_Dear professor Lupin_

_How are you ? I think I'm better than I expected to be. Its very weird but my scar has not hurt at all since the vacations started. Ron, Hermione, Ginny and I are going shopping to diagonalley tomorrow. We'll meet at the burrow for bill's wedding._

_Take care till then _

_Harry_

He called for Hedwig who was only happy to be let out of the house and then he resumed his homework. "I might as well ask Fred and George some help on spell creation. They are the masters of disaster after all surely they'll know a thing or two on counter curses" he thought.

Hermione was reading about the elemental magic at Hogwarts library. Mc Gonagal was only too happy that her favourite student wanted to use the library during holidays. Hermione read through pages and pages of text of many accounts of people watching elemental power but no instructions on how to use it. The worse part was that there wasn't any school or tutor who could teach them the subject. She kept flipping relentlessly page after page which only described the effect of elemental magic. She thought " at least this is better than nothing. We know what we can do just how is the question now".

She picked another book at the end of the rack. The book was rather dusty. She opened the cover and the first page had concentric circles. The inner most showed a moving picture of the land mass with green trees and plants. The next showed clouds, rivulets, waterfall, ocean, snow, rain and thunderstorm. The next showed air in changing pictures of gentle wind carrying cherry blossom and then change to turbulent raging wind and twisters. The outermost circle had pictures of a soft glowing fire that illuminated the dark path and then changed to a forest fire in raging glory. The pictures kept changing to show elements as soft and harsh.

Pig arrived with a letter from Ron and Hermione unfolded it and read " oh well, I'm being unreasonable and he's still being sweet, though this letter has fingerprint of Ginny all over it. Still I better ask Ron to come here soon." And sent back a message asking him to come quickly. Hermione went to find Madam Pince. Madam Pince was in her quarters since she dint expect any students to need her during holidays but was not surprised on seeing Hermione at her door when she opened it. Infact she thought such a visit was long overdue to someone who spent literally every waking hour in the library.

"Now tell me child why am I not surprised to see you here." Madam Pince asked with a smile " so what brings you here?"

Hermione replied " Madam Pince, there is a book in the library that has no name and no author. Do you mind if I take a copy of it. The book has only 5 pages on which which have contents on it, the rest of the pages are blank"

Madam Pince seemed to bee searching her brain for the book. "I don't remember having seen this book but well the library is as old as the school itself and there are so many books that it may have slipped by me. Anyways lets have a look at it shall we". They both went back to the library where Ron was searching for Hermione. "oh hi! I saw your quill and thought you must be somewhere behind the racks somewhere. Good morning Madam Pince". Ron greeted them " I hope we are not a bother to you ".

"Oh no dears! On the contrary , you two are the highlight of my day. Miss Granger I'm impressed, you somehow convinced Mr. Weasley to come by the library and that too during the holidays." She said excitedly "now lets see that book". They flipped through the book. While Ron and Hermione could see the 1st 5 pages Madam Pince saw only blank papers.

" If I'm guessing right, this book is written for selective audience. There must be someone who wants to give only you this knowledge. Anyways I'll do a copy charm of it on your parchment." She said a bit unnerved. When she did a copy charm the parchment read " the knowledge of the book is only for four who control a part of me within themselves. To all others I will remain blank." Ron and Madam Pince were both shocked.

"Madam Pince can you teach me the spell. Maybe if I try, it might get copied" said Hermione. Madam Pince nodded "the day is getting more interesting by the minute. A book in my library refuses to let me read it. Very well. The wand movement is a circle around the book and then point it at the centre of the circle , drag a line from there and tap on the parchment to which you want it copied. The spell is papyrus replicieae. Do this with a concentration towards the content of the book. Hermione followed the instruction, a moment later the words appeared on the parchment

" Daughter of eve, lady over all that flows and shimmers, I'm yours. Take me and read me with the other three companions. Now all three were dumbstruck. Ultimately Madam Pince broke the silence " well its clear then! This book is yours to read with your friends" she picked the book up and gave it to Hermione "use it well. This is only a request" she paused " but it is possible that someone in the future may need it so once you are done with the book and no linger need it, please return it to the library."

Hermione thanked Madam Pince and promised she would keep it safe until it is returned. Then Ron and Hermione retuned to the burrow after thanking Mc Gonagal for letting them use the floo in her office.

Hermione told Ron "Harry and Ginny should be here" Ron nodded in agreement " I'll get Harry and you get Ginny" she portkeyed to Harry's room. Harry was sleeping on his homework. She thought " surely charms cant be that boring, did he start anything else." She checked the essay, it was on banishment of centaurs and adding them to magical beasts category . "oh! History of magic, still this is better than goblin war" she thought." "Better wake him up".

" Harry, wake up, you are smudging your homework" he didn't respond. "He must be having a good dream for a change" she thought. Then she gave a wicked smile " what better opportunity to practice my new elemental power" she thought. She made the homework waterproof and then moved her fingers as if sprinkling water. She saw droplets of water on Harry's face but he just wiped it away and turned to the other side.

She smirked "so sprinkle doesn't work" she thought of flowing water stream and her taking a palm full of the water, "then splashed it is". Now Harry was sitting up straight, blinking in astonishment. "Mione! What was that for " Harry cried out. "That was just testing the waters" Hermione laughed at Harry's confused look. "Anyways, we are going to the burrow, and by the way, your data on centaurs is a bit jumbled. I suggest you use English and Swedish authors. While the Romanian authors are only good to refer to when it comes to dragons, griffins and hypogriff, for all others use English history as a reference. The IWC data is available in the library you know."

"What's IWC?" Harry asked.

"The International Wizarding Council of course. Their data is the most consistent one among all that I've read" she replied as a matter of fact. "Harry I want you to imagine a warm breeze circling around you to dry your shirt and focus on the feel of wind against your body." Said Hermione as Harry got up to change his clothes. Harry looked at her quizzically "why would you want me to do that?"

"Just humour me. Get on with it" urged Hermione.

"Ok if you say so" he said and imagined himself feeling a warm air encircling him with a soft fragrance of sunlight peeping through the pine trees. He opened his eyes, everything was still wet. "its not going to work mione. What else could you expect" he asked mocking himself that he even tried.

"This is what you should expect" Hermione breathed angrily as she opened her palm and gave the water that had collected a twirl and it started spinning like a whirlpool. Harry just gawked at it until Hermione closed her palm and said "now you try that again. Remember how cool air had shot out of your wand when Ginny's bed started burning. Now concentrate. I want you dried up this instant" she commanded.

" here goes nothing" said Harry and imagines the same picture in his mind and concentrated. The next moment he heard the parchment on his table ruffle and felt himself dry up. When he opened his eyes Hermione was jumping with a hungry gleam in her eyes. The same as the one he saw in her when she took all the classes during her 3rd year. " now we can go" she said reaching out for his hand. The next moment they were at The Burrow. They climbed upto Ron's room where Ginny and Ron were arguing over which paint color looked better. The room was flashing different tones of yellow, orange, red, brown and green.

"Guys! Stop yelling. I'm sure we can use a color per day. You don't need to fix it" Harry said walking up to Ginny and planting a kiss on her lips, when she was in the middle of changing the room to gold.

"Hi Harry! Mate I really like you. Don't make me break your jaw. Next time you want to do that you take her to her room" Ron said with a wide grin. "Sorry won't happen again" Harry said, but Ginny retorted with her wand at Ron's chest "sure it'll happen again. I'll do what I want to with my boyfriend. Don't tell him what to do and when to do. Either that or don't kiss Hermione in front of us".

Both Ron and Hermione turned beet red. "Sweetheart, there is no reason to be mad. Ron was just demonstrating his concern for you. I'm sure he understands that he need not be concerned" Harry said trying to neutralize the situation.

"I know! I was just playing around" Ginny burst out laughing "you look very cute when you are being diplomatic" now it was Harry's turn to turn red. " I've had my fun for the day. So Mione, why did you want us all here" she asked. Hermione opened the book. All of them saw the picture. Ron I think this'll work. Put your hand on the page and will to read the book. Ask the book to show itself" Hermione instructed.

The same handwriting as the one that had appeared in the library appeared on the book. It read,

"_Son of Adam, Lord over land and all that grows from it, welcome to my secrets"._

"I'll go next. I'll introduce myself again" and Hermione touched the page. The words read,

"_Welcome again Daughter of Eve, Lady over all that flows and shimmers."_

"Its your turn next Harry." Hermione said.

This time the word on the page were,

" _Son of Adam, Lord over that which swirls and swoops and all the fragrance that it carries. Welcome to my book of knowledge." _

"You are next Ginny" said Harry .

" Are you sure I'm meant for this" Ginny asked suspiciously. "We were the subtle ones Ginny," said Ron exasperated "You burst into flames. Just touch the page"

The words appeared,

"_Welcome Dearest, Daughter of Eve, Lady over the spark of life, the one that gives warmth and light. The one nearest to life. Your compassion brings you four together and me to life."_

"_My children, when you all come together, I'll reveal myself to you."_

" I guess we should all place our hands on the book." Shrugged Ginny. They all did and waited for something to happen. The content on the first 5 pages disappeared. "I didn't read whatever was written, what was it, was it important?" Ginny cried out.

"No Ginny! It was just some random stuff to throw others off the scent" Hermione assured. They read the books new content which had appeared soon after.

"_Dear children, I'm the essence of nature, Gaya. The four of you are a part of me . you will on your path to redeem this earth of evil, come across situations where you'll need me. As you come into power, I'll be able to respond to your wishes is more than written form. For now though, you must try and become one within yourselves and become one as a team and become one with me. You received your powers from me when the last of the four before you left the mortal realm. And only the four of you will hold the elemental power until the last of you four have left this realm. I chose you four for your compassion, empathy, bravery, loyalty, and above all love. As you grow, so will your emotions and so will your powers. I'll always be with you. Always trust each otrust each other. Believe that nothing will ever come between your love and trust. May your conscience be your guide."_

They all sat in silence for sometime, then Harry got up holding Ginny's hand and said "we're going to Ginny's room. Don't want to get my jaw broken".

"Do whatever it is you want to do, just don't tell me about it, I don't need to know everything." Ron said but they were gone by the time Ron finished his sentence.

"When they entered Ginny's room Harry asked her, "what's bothering you Gin. I know its all new, but you look unhappy with it.". Ginny sighed "am I that transparent ? Its probably nothing, I want to be happy about this, but" she hesitated " it's a book that talks, we don't know who's behind it, what if it's a trap."

"Oh Gin!" he said pulling her into a hug " you are actually correct about some things. It does sound very much like the Riddle's diary. But that one tricked you into becoming a host to the parasite that was Riddle, this one on the other hand is telling us that it'll come to life and not tricking us into it. We'll talk about it with Hermione and Ron later on. Ok?" she nodded.

"Ron, will Ginny be ok with this?" asked Hermione with concern clearly showing in her voice. "What are you talking about, shouldn't she be happy?" said Ron as clueless as ever. " Ron! It must remind her of the chamber of secrets. That's why Harry took her to her room" said Hermione " I can't believe you didn't notice"

"Well, lets hope that Harry is able to give a good explanation to it. This sounds nothing like Riddle's diary. Said Ron, Hermione nodded. After some time of hanging around the burrow and having their lunch, Hermione said "its time we leave. We'll be here at 10 tomorrow. Be ready. Get some homework done Ron. See you tomorrow." With that they both landed in Harry's bedroom.

" See you tomorrow Hermione. I'm going to try and practice some stuff. Elemental magic is not being detected by the ministry to raise the question of reasonable restriction to underage sorcery. As well make use of the opportunity. I might even scare the Dursleys a bit. What do you think?" Harry asked.

"Come on don't be childish. Spare them or at least try to. I'll see you tomorrow." Hermione said before disappearing.

That night Vernon Dursley shouted for Harry to do the dishes. Harry thought " now I wish mione was here" he washed all the dishes and then thought " I might as well dry it up. Its not like I have to flex muscles." He concentrated and the warm gentle breeze surrounded him. He recalled a fragrance and willed the house to fill with it. The air swooped all the hidden dust that had collected in the corners and at the edges that were unreachable by even petunia. By the time he was done at the kitchen everything felt warm. He went up to his room and drifted off to sleep. That night he dreamt of a sun room that was filled with the same fragrance. He didn't recognize the place but it felt safe. A curtain of red hair that shone in the sunlight and he saw through it a land where no hope would remain unfulfilled.


	4. Chapter 4

**Harry Potter and The Prophecy As It Was**

_**Disclaimer:**_ This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

A/N: Thanx to Chris Marshall who will be editing this chapter later, and to remuslives who was kind enough to give me a few pointers. And thanx to all those who are following the story. **plz review**, i need a bit of encouragement as its my first book. and finally thanx to annu and anukriti who have been of great help while i was writing this.

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Chapter 4 : A day of shopping is never bad

A vast expanse of land with a pond in the center and filled with lilies. Butterflies fluttering over the flowers. All of it felt like nothing could ever go wrong and he felt safe. "But why am I feeling wet on my head." He thought. And then a wave of water hit his bed.

"Where am I ? and what's happening?" shouted a very wet and shocked Harry. Then he saw Hermione. " What! its already morning. It was the best dream I've ever had. I'm not forgiving you for waking me up from that beautiful dream" he huffed.

"Come on Harry" said Hermione "get ready you were to be ready by now. Ron and Ginny must be waiting for us ."

"Give me 5 minutes to clean this up and have a bath" Harry said as stated drying the place up. " This power is coming very handy I should say" and then he went to have a bath. When he returned he saw that Hermione had taken it on herself yet again to correct his assignment.

"Lets go Mione" said Harry linking his hand with Hermione's and they portkeyed to The Burrow. The Weasley kitchen was a little more crowded than it had been for a while but still nowhere near its maximum capacity.

"Hello dears" greeted Mrs. Weasley "sit down you two and help yourselves to toasts.

Harry sat next to Ginny and Hermione sat between Ron and George. Charlie had come over from Romania for bill's wedding.

" Hi Charlie !" Hermione said "this is the first time you'll be here for so long. Won't the babies miss you ."

"They will Hermione, I miss them too but bill needs me here to not let him get wedding jitters" Charlie replied "And to keep my two younger brothers away from the groom. We need to keep him safe at least till the wedding is over", giving Fred and George a death glare.

"Where is Mr. Weasley" asked Harry "I've not seen him around for quite a while."

"Its pretty hectic around the ministry these days" replied George "with You-Know-who

Starting his terror raid on muggles, a lot of muggle artifacts have been turning up at his department. Personally I think if had not been for the situation, dad would have enjoyed it."

Ginny broke their conversation their conversation "Guys eat up fast, we need to go shopping. Fred, George aren't you worried that your customers will not appreciate you not being there."

"No worries there sis" replied Fred "which prankster in the entire world has ever been early riser. But time is of essence and we would rather not delay these ladies to their exploits."

"Well, I think we are all ready when Ron is" said George " really how much will you eat Ron."

"Let him eat George" Mrs. Weasley shouted " he is still growing" and then she started coddling Ron. It was enough for Ron to finally finish his breakfast.

"The plan is that we'll floo to our shop and from there Fred will accompany you to Gringotts and when you get back from there I'll come with you to select the robes for bill's wedding." Said George . "Of course professor McGonagall must have made extra security arrangements but we might as well have a plan in case You-Know-who plans on attacking us there".

Fred started "first of all in case of an attack don't try to defend yourself. Situation at the ministry has been a bit rocky since Dumbledore's death. Scrimgeor is playing a new card to get the ministry back into public's good eye" he paused a bit eyeing Harry a bit like a bomb shell ready to explode any moment, " that Harry has now sided with Voldemort. He stretched every syllable of Voldemort trying to over come his fear and showing his support to Harry. It had taken every ounce of his courage to do so, but when he looked at the four, two of them his own younger siblings who had had face to face confrontation with Voldemort and his death eaters, he felt embarrassed that he was scared of the name.

"That is absolutely preposterous" yelled Hermione " why that coward and his toad like undersecretary. What is he playing at. If he continues this way Voldemort is sure to win. And I wonder what's up with Umbridge.

"So do not use magic under any circumstance" said George when the uproar had dried down.

"What are we supposed to do if there is an attack and the order member do not show up" asked Harry with a suppressed anger in his voice.

Finally George sighed " you be the judge of whether or not you must use magic Harry if you are attacked. I'm just hoping the chance doesn't present itself".

"These guys aren't acting like themselves" whispered Hermione to Ron who replied " I think they know things which are being discussed in the order meetings and daily prophet is not reporting half of the incidents around the world. But from what I gather there is something wrong with the circulation of the galleons at the Gringotts. Apparently its affecting business".

"Get up guys, lets go" said Ginny getting up from the table indicating that everybody else should as well. Soon they all said their byes to Mrs. Weasley and Charlie and flooed to Weasley Wizarding Wheezes and from there they went to Gringotts so that Harry could get some money from his vault and Hermione could exchange muggle money for wizarding ones. There wasn't any problem with Harry's vault but when they reached the exchange counter there was a long queue.

"What's going on here" Harry asked "it looks like Gringotts is offering free gifts to all customers."

They had to wait for 45 minutes to get to their turn and then they realized why it was crowded in an unprecedented manner.

"Hello, I'm Hermione Granger. Can you please exchange ₤1000 to galleons please Mr. Ylemknot" she added as she looked at the name plate by the counter. The goblin looked up at her and smiled a goblin smile, flashing his sharp pointy teeth.

He replied "No one has called me by my name ever at the bank. I mean the wizards. Thanks for acknowledging my service, busy day today".

He gave her 1500 galleon in a velvet pouch. "There must be some mistake. You should give me something around 200 galleons. Isn't the exchange rate around 1 galleon to ₤5" asked Hermione taking out the galleons to return the extra amount.

" No miss Granger, we don't know how but galleons have been falling and we don't know how, because no one thought that gold value would ever fall, but its happening" replied Ylemknot.

Hermione was in deep thoughts when Harry was approached by Griphook. "Mr. Potter, I hope you can spare a few moments, it's a matter of emergency and manager Ragnok wanted to meet you" he said.

They followed Griphook to the manager's cabin. The manager greeted them "Mr. Potter, we will be discussing some confidential matters with you today and even though I know you trust your friends implicitly, I would advice that they not be audience to the proceeding for their safety, but its your account in question so you may make the decision."

"With all due respect sir" started Harry but was interrupted by Mr. Ragnok, please call me Ragnok Mr. Potter, I've not been addressed with such respect by any client in a long time. If my memory is not failing me then it was your mother who last addressed me as sir, when I met her shortly after your parent's marriage."

"Thank you Ragnok, please call me Harry. I know what the dangers are in them knowing information but I need them to know because they are my family. Please don't mind me insisting that they stay." Harry requested.

"Very well! Lets get to business. Even though I'm not supposed to tell you this until your 17th birthday, apart from your vault which you have been accessing since you entered the wizarding world, there is another vault which you'll inherit when you are 17. the problem is with the dropping value of the galleons and we think it'll drop further according to our analysis, we need to clarify it to our customers. The Potter family vault is one of our oldest and deepest vaults. We wish to give you time to think about it till you inherit it at which time you'll be able to close your account with the bank. If that is what you wish. The goblin nation deeply regrets that you have been presented with such a situation when your ancestors entrusted your wealth in our care" said Mr. Ragnok looking much older than his age.

"Thank you for letting me know Ragnok, but I would like to reassure you that the economy will stabilize as soon as Voldemort is conquered. And I trust you to keep the contents of the vault safe. Just out of curiosity Ragnok, tell me what if I die before I inherit the vault" asked Harry.

"The vault's content will be split into 4 parts. 1 part to the closest relative on your paternal side, 1 part to the closest relative on your maternal side, the 3rd part is divided into 2 of which 1 part will be used by Gringotts and other the other is donated to St. Mungos. The last part is given to the ministry of magic." Ragnok explained.

" I'm going to try keeping myself alive till then" Harry joked.

"Harry, I have no doubt that you'll be safe but there is a better solution that I would suggest. According to the goblin law, you are already the owner of your vault irrespective of your age as your parents were the only ones who claimed it after your grandparent's death, and you are their only child thereby making you the heir to the Potter vault without any dispute. Its wizarding law about underage inheritance that denies you access to the vault until you are 17. But you can make a will now and in the unfortunate case of your death it will be executed as any other will is." Ragnok suggested.

"Then in that case, I would like to make a will now, will you please witness it and Fred Weasley may be the second witness" Harry asked.

" Please follow me to the next chamber" said Ragnok and looked at Fred " Mr. Weasley, please join us, but I must request the others to wait here."

In the chamber Harry was given a full list of contents the vault. Harry nominated the Potter castle and its content and the house elves to Ginny. All the books in the vault to Hermione. All the magical artifacts to Ron. The vault also contained 30,000,000 galleons of which he gave Ginny, Ron, and Hermione 7,000,000 galleons each, 5,000,000 to Fred and George as investment in Weasley Wizarding Wheezes. 2,000,000 galleon to and 2,000,000 galleons to Gringotts to be used for goblin and elf welfare.

He made Ron the executer of the will. Both Ragnok and Fred signed the will and a copy was submitted to Gringotts record and one was given to Ron.

"Ron, you are the executer of my will though I'm hoping that it won't be soon. Hermione you are second to Ron, in case anything should happen to him but I'm requesting that you not to read my will" Harry pleaded.

" I understand Harry" said Hermione and Ginny wrapped herself around him trying to comfort him. After all its never exactly easy to be thinking past your own death. Ron just nodded.

Harry asked Ragnok " I received a letter from you regarding professor Dumbledore's will reading which is scheduled for tomorrow and it also mentioned that you would be sending Mr. Griphook to educate me about the proceeding, while all four of us are here, you could tell us about it. It would save Mr. Griphook a trip."

"Yes that can be done" Ragnok said and had his assistant call Griphook " I'll ask him to instruct you about it."

Just then Griphook arrived to escort the four to his desk. They thanked Ragnok and left with Griphook.

"Mr. Potter, we have received intelligence report that there will be an attempt to capture you and your friends tomorrow on your way here, therefore Ragnok has authorized a special portkey that shall transport you through the ward of Gringotts directly into the will reading chamber. I believe you have means of meeting each other." He got a metal disk out of his drawer, "your magical signatures are keyed into it, when all four of you touch it at exactly 10.00 am tomorrow, you will be transported here. We'll let you know about how we arrange for you to leave safely once you get here. Is there anything you wish for me to clarify?" he asked the four. They shook their heads, "very well then, we'll meet tomorrow." He said then added in a hushed tone " Miss Weasley, I believe you are the one they are after, please make sure you have emergency means of communicating with others in the unfortunate case that you are kidnapped and Mr. Potter please don't assume that those behind the attack will be human. Have a good day".

They all came out of Gringotts in a somber mood and walked silently until Ginny broke their silence " why are you all so dull, its not like we have not been attacked before, and you know it Harry, that I cant be touched if I don't want to be. Nothing will happen. Don't worry, we cant shop for a wedding when in such dull mood. And we can go to Florean Frotesque after that." The last sentence visibly lightened Ron up. And Harry knew what Ginny was saying was true so let it go.

They reached Weasley Wizarding Wheezes much later than they were supposed to to the odd sight of a worried George.

"Hey! What happened to you guys" shouted George "I Flooed home twice to check the clock. My only comfort was that it wasn't showing dead for anyone and only mortal peril."

Fred explained what had happened at Gringotts to George while they both shifted some boxes and filled up the inventory and ingredients register.

Then the four friends went with George to Madam Malkins to buy their robes.

Hermione was very curious and asked George "how do you and Fred divide the workload between yourselves. Why did Fred accompany us to bank and you to the robes shop? Doesn't he want to select his own robes?"

"Its really simple actually Mione" answered George "Fred doesn't like women taking his measurement while I completely enjoy the attention. Also his taste in clothing is very average but we cant be average, now can we? We need to keep up our reputation. Hence I'm here also I'm a bit scared of the goblins" he whispered the last part so that only Hermione could hear it. "it would do you good not reveal that piece of information to anyone if you don't want to be at the receiving end of our pranks , oh also Fred would want you to keep the part about him yourself" he added giving a false fierce look.

Hermione could just barely control herself from laughing. They soon reached the shop and Madam Malkins introduced herself to the 5. the boys were escorted by an assistant, the girls were lead upstairs by Madam Malkins.

Hermione got dark blue robes sprinkled with silver dust at the color and the cuff for the party in the evening and for the wedding she got magenta dress with a Chinese color and intricate bronze design. She had only planned on one dress but since the exchange rate had changed so drastically she decided to enjoy it while it lasted even though she felt a tinge of guilt at aiding in the destruction of the economy. She put aside her feelings and dove again into finding suitable robes for Ginny once hers was done.

From the money that bill had given her, Ginny got a pale green silk dress with very delicately done floral design in silver that spiraled down the dress starting at the left shoulder. And she bought a maroon and gold robe for the evening from the money that she had saved up. When the girls returned down they saw Ron had selected dark blue robes which went amazingly well with his hair and Harry had dark green robes. But what shocked Hermione were the robes that George had picked himself and Fred. One was dark silvery grey with tiny balls of fur all over. The shocking thing was that they glowed different colors every few seconds. And the other one was light grey material with multi-coloured lights emerging at the color and spiraling down every few seconds.

"Ginny! Why are your brother's robes like a Christmas tree decoration" Hermione asked her in hurried hushed tone.

"The only reason they were dressed reasonably till now was that mum didn't let them shop, now they have their own money. They do what they want to" Ginny answered.

They paid for all the clothes and told Madam Malkins that they would collect it by evening. Madam Malkins assured them that the robes would be fitted by then. It was half past one and Ron's mood had started shifting towards fowl.

"lets head to the restaurant next to the daily prophet. Then we can go to Florean Frotesque" Hermione suggested. Ron's mood lifted a bit at hearing the name of the ice cream parlour.

They finished lunch and were heading towards Florean Frotesque when Hermione lowered her voice and said urgently "listen up, I think we're being followed, I think its best to head back to the shop and warn Fred of it."

They started walking faster when Harry stopped them. "There is someone ahead waiting for us" he whispered into Hermione's ear "I am thinking of brewing a storm, want to join the party. Nothing serious though. We don't want to damage the shops just get people off the street. Better not use fire and earthquake. Might seem too obvious."

Hermione nodded and then both concentrated on summoning their powers. Just as droplets of sweat started breaking through the skin on their forehead, a gust of wind swept through, blowing the dust off the street. Ron smiled as he understood what was going on, "hey! you can't use dust without my permission, drop it will you" he spoke with mischief dancing in his eyes.

"Sorry" Harry shrugged " didn't intend to" and he dropped all the dust. As soon as the dust cleared people saw an upcoming storm as water laden black clouds approached, everyone ran into the shops. Some just Disapparated. In between all the confusion the five were able to get to Weasley Wizarding Wheezes without much hassle.

They looked out of the window and the death eaters were frantically searching for them. Ginny snuggled next to Harry and said "don't you think they are too wet, they might catch a cold you know. We don't want our enemies down by common flu at such a crucial time" she winked.

The next second the three figures who had kept their hoods low started screaming as their robes burst into flames. The water in their clothes started evapourating into steam. "That's how water cycle should be taught at the primary school" Ginny said dusting her hand to indicate that her job there was done.

Ron looked thoughtful, he said "we can't just let them leave now". The three death eaters had lost their cloaks. Ron made the ground under their feet marsh and as soon as their feet got stuck in it he froze the ground. George weaved an anti- disapparation field on the three. Harry recognized them as Avery, Nott and Crabbe. "Surely Voldemort would not send his senior most without a task force behind them, they must have disapparated before anyone noticed them" he thought.

It took another 5 minutes for the aurors to arrive and on their arrival Ron liquefied the ground so that they could move around. They immediately recognized Tonks from her shocking pink hair that she wore that day. The aurors started questioning the shoppers. The three death eaters were taken to St. Mungos for intensive burn care. They could not be arrested since they claimed that they were just shopping and their wands were checked for spell shadow but nothing suspicious came up. Once they all left, Tonks came to the shop and slumped down on a chair "next time sometime is smart enough to capture them like that, the idiot should give the death eaters an opportunity to do some damage. Now we have to spend ministry fund to treat those pork chops in St. Mungos" she said with her teeth clenched.

"What took you so much time to come Tonks" Fred asked offering her some tea. The rain outside had stopped and the clouds had cleared up to let sunshine through the alley.

Tonks didn't notice how fast her auror robes had dried up.

"Oh those politicians, they only care for their own well being. We have to wait for orders from the ministry cabinet. Its amazing we even got here while they were still there. The DMLE is the most affected department, we have always been autonomous a certain degree. Scrimgeor has taken all our rights as aurors away" she complained "I'd better be leaving. See you later" and she apparated away.

Fred and George had twinkles in their eyes and literally so because of their product that they had been testing. The effect lasted 24 hours. The pills exaggerated extreme emotions. At present the twins looked like a leprechaun who had just found gold.

"Brother mine" Fred called George.

"yes! My brother" George

"did you witness the feat that these four achieved" Fred

"and how ? may I add" George

"our dearest younger brother" Fred

"and our firebrand sister" George

"are hiding something from us" Fred

"us who have supported them through thick and thin" George

Hermione's head was oscillating between Fred and George as she tried to follow their conversation. "what do you mean we are hiding something" questioned Ginny. Had it been anyone but Fred and George, they would have backed off.

"Tell me sis, why did your nose twitch in concentration right when their cloaks caught fire" asked Fred.

"Fine point my brother, but even more interesting things happened while we were on our way back to the shop" George said with an air of having an upper hand in the investigation "we all know our Harry. The noblest of all. The one who is always there to save the day. And we know our Hermione dearest" giving her a penetrating look. "The calculative one. The one who is always cautious. And here of course our beloved younger siblings who do not give up a chance to stun a few death eaters".

"What are you trying to get at George" asked Fred

"Just that, when they knew that we were being followed and later on even knowing that we were probably surrounded" he paused " they did not even try to draw their wands." He glared at the four "I was the only one with wand at ready."

"Very good point from you too dear brother" added Fred "and did you notice how Tonks came in dripping wet and left the next minute feeling warm and cozy."

They both crossed their arms "so tell us what it is. We know its you"

"we'll tell you at home in the evening" whispered Hermione "can't tell you now, don't talk about it to anyone, not even the order members"

That was all the time that Fred and George could spare because there were loads of people who had come into the shop to take shelter from the rain and having had so much time to look around most children and a few adults as well, had picked up lots of stuff.

"Fine, we will be back soon, but presently business calls us, we would better go" said George "anyways you guys can handle it better we would be able to, so you may go out by yourselves , just don't mention it to mom".

As the four headed out, Hermione was the first to speak "I don't think anyone else would have noticed. Its because they know us so well that they became suspicious. Even Tonks didn't realize. So there is no need to worry". They all nodded. " Where do you want to go first. Florean Frotesque or Florish and Blots?"

"I need to recharge myself" Ron stressed " I have to eat something before my brain can work again."

"Oh alright, lets go" Hermione agreed to it. After about an hour when Ron finally accepted he was full, they left the shop to visit the book store. On the way Ginny caught up with Hermione, who was a step ahead " did you see that, Neville and Luna entered the shop from the other side just as we were leaving."

"Good for them, they did make a good team in the DA, maybe that's how they go together" Hermione replied.

Suddenly Harry said "Hey ! I've never seen this shop here before. Did you know of its existence Ron" Ron shook his head.

"I want to check it out. Its got quidditch equipments" said Ron. " I want to too" Harry added sheepishly.

"You two go ahead, I'll go with Hermione to the book store" Ginny offered.

"Are you sure, don't you want to have a look inside" Hermione asked.

"No, its ok, I'd rather come with you than be in their way. When it comes to quidditch Ron doesn't like distractions" Ginny shrugged.

After the girls left, Harry sighed "thank goodness Ginny didn't come"

"Are you saying you have a problem with my sister" Ron questioned him, his anger visible on his face.

"No Ron, calm down. I didn't mean it like that" Harry tried to reason. "I thought I'll buy her a new broom for her birthday to surprise her. Have a little more trust in me. You know I love her".

"Sorry" Ron looked utterly embarrassed. "I just thought.." he was cut before he could finish that sentence.

"I understand, just trust me more the next time alright" Harry said " you would know better about which is the latest, so any suggestions"

Ron searched his brain for a while "well, there is the nimbus 2005, but its not much of an improvement over 2002. then there is comet x 50chaser special and the cleansweep 500 which has amazing vertical dive and its got instant reaction break. Its not as good as a firebolt but Ginny is a chaser not a seeker. It should be good enough."

At that moment the owner of the shop came out and introduced himself. Good afternoon Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley. I'm Mike Prewit. Please call me Mike. I'm a distant cousin of yours from your mothers side. I last met her when we came for William's 1st birthday. Heard he's getting married. Time flies away fast. How may I help you today gentlemen?"

"Please call us Ron and Harry. We were looking a light weight broom for a chaser" Ron replied.

" Can you give an idea on the musculature of the player. Tall or short, thin or well built?" asked Mike.

" Its for my sister actually" Ron replied "she's about 5'6" and is too thin. God knows why she doesn't eat" and he drifted off thinking about how less she eats and how he would survive if he had only that much. The thought was enough to bring him back to reality with a shudder."

Mike thought for a while and went into his work shop. He brought 3 brooms out.

"These are all brooms I've designed, they are not yet in the market." He picked one of the brooms and handed it over to Harry. "These three are specially made for chasers, but I think that one will be best suited. Its maximum speed is 270 kmph, but the broom shudders after 1990kmph. I'll be able to solve that problem soon. It reaches from 0-70 in 10 seconds and to 150 in the next 5 seconds. Its got turn control and break controls in the handle as well as leg space, so you can release both hands mid air to throw or catch the quaffle. If you are interested, I can give it to you for half the price since you are the 1st to buy my broom, I'll also throw in free upgrades. It'll take another 2 weeks to make adjustments."

Harry replied "I like the broom mike, is it possible for you to make the broom fire proof and reduce the drag from speed. I'll take the broom if you can do that."

"I think it should be possible, I would be able to tell you for sure by the day after tomorrow. I will have to consult my father. Can you come over again" mike asked.

"yes we'll come by in two or three days. Thanks." Harry replied.

"I know you two play as the keeper and the seeker for your teams, would you like to see my design for the specialized brooms. Just have a look. No pressure to buy."

"Yeah sure, no harm in looking at them" Harry shrugged.

Mike got another set of brooms and displayed them. "this one here" he said lifting a sleek black glossy broom "is the seeker special. Its ultra light weight made of rubber wood." He said bending the handle to 90 degrees. "Its Maximum speed is 300 kmph and it reaches 0-120 kmph in 10 seconds. But the disadvantage is it can be blown off-course if its hit by a bludger or even by a strong gale since its so light weight. Its what I like to call a fair weather broom" he chuckled at his own joke, while Ron and Harry faked a small laugh to be polite.

"And this one here" he said picking up a dark maroon glossy broom "is the keeper special. Its medium weight, made so for more stable hovering near the hoops. Its maximum speed is 150 kmph, but its specialty are these loops. These are provided so you can hang down from the broom, when you tug at it, the broom will place itself below you so you don't need to pull yourself up every time. And your controls at leg are provided with a lever. When you shift it backwards like so" he demonstrated "it'll fly in reverse giving you time to recover if there is a feint" he said with a look of pride. "I also have beater special, you could ask your friends to have a look at it."

Harry and Ron thanked Mike for his time and promised to come back in two days. Then they went to Florish and Blots. Soon they caught up with Hermione and Ginny who were in a dusty section of the store.

"what are you doing in this section, we don't need anything from here" Ron enquired.

"No Ron, on the contrary we need loads of stuff from here. Voldemort is not wasting is time on standard book of spells for NEWT and having ice-cream, neither should we" answered Hermione.

"Don't pull my ice-cream into this, what about spending so much time in the dress shop. But I get your point" Ron replied

"Ron" Harry called "over here, look at this book. It was a book by the title "Advanced defense against dark arts and understanding dark arts."

They took it over to Hermione, she read through it, then said "best to buy this when no one is looking at us. Its not dark but its suspicious" she added the book to her growing stack. She saw the look on the faces of her friends. "What !! we'll need to prepare ourselves and I'm rich now, it might not exist for long" she exclaimed.

Once they go all the books they needed, Hermione insisted on paying for them all, they went back to Weasley Wizarding Wheezes. It was 5 in the evening by the time George was free to go with them to Madam Malkins to get their robes.

By the time they got back to The Burrow it was dark outside. Harry was concerned that his uncle might have called for him to do the dishes. He would be caught. Luckily for him that evening, hiss aunt and uncle decided to go out for dinner. Dudley had plans to go over to his friends place for sleepover. Harry noticed that this had become the new trend. Dudley had been insisting on going for these sleepovers more and more often. Dudley had never been the smart and intelligent kind but lately his glazed expressions were a bit off for even the dumbest of the lot.

As curious as he was, Harry didn't want anymore trouble for the day and he was exhausted from the trip to Diagon Alley.

"I'm just going to sleep off. God know what his gang is upto these days and god alone can save the poor kid who is getting beaten up and bullied by his gang.

With that thought Harry went to sleep. He heard the door click, he reflexively reached for his wand and pointed it at the door. He had been woken up from yet another pleasant dreams, he wondered why Voldemort was not trying to torture him over the mental link.

He could only make out the silhouette in the dark but there was no mistaking the bulk even in dark. "Harry I need your help" Dudley whispered sounding scared.

The situation could not have gotten more unusual. If not for the scared tone Dudley had whispered in, Harry would have burst out laughing. Harry moved to switch the light on after pulling the blinds shut.

"what happened to you, this is generally what happens to the one you decide to round up on" Harry's voice matching Dudley's. How many times he had wished that this day would come. Every time he was cornered, he had imagined Dudley being beaten up.

Now that his wish had come true exactly the way he had wanted it to transpire, he felt sorry. He could not believe it himself , of all emotions that he could have felt at the moment, pity was certainly not what he thought he would ever feel towards Dudley.

"Can you make me alright by magic, and I need to change my clothes can I use your bathroom. I cant go to mine because mum will notice blood stained clothes in the linen bag" Dudley spoke.

"You know I'm not allowed to do magic out of school for another 12 days. But you could use the bathroom, though I think your mother will find out anyways, you got bruises all over your face and she does collect clothes from my bag as well" Harry said " It's always empty when I wake up in the morning."

"Listen, I would laugh if I could, there is no way my mother would even dare to enter the room and forget about her washing your clothes" Dudley said as matter of fact.

Harry realized there is truth in what Dudley was saying. Most of the time he washed his clothes on his own, but even when he didn't, his clothes were washed, dried, iron, folded and neatly stacked in his cupboard.

If it wasn't his aunt then who was it. With a sudden realization he called "Dobby".

Within a bat of the eyelid, Dobby appeared.

"Harry Potter called Dobby" screeched Dobby, his face had the largest grin pasted on it.

"Yes dobby, I called you, to ask why you have been doing my laundry" Harry asked keeping a check on his emotions.

Whether that emotion was anger, irritation or happiness, he didn't know for sure.

"Harry Potter sir smells good in freshly washed clothes" Dobby answered with an air of pride.

"Yes well thank you very much dobby" said Harry overcome with emotions which was now tending towards a sense of belonging and association. After all he knew Dobby loved him and he did appreciate Dobby's concern, "but you need to stop trying to help me".

Suddenly, Dobby who had been jumping with excitement and happiness dancing in his large eyes which seemed to do a small dance every time he blinked turned very sad and said " Harry Potter sir does not like Dobby's work, Dobby must punish himself and started himself with a book on Harry's desk.

"Stop! Stop!" Harry shouted " I love your work Dobby. I don't know what I would do without you" he blurted out.

"Strange" he thought " its almost as if I'm trying to get my girlfriend back".

The smile re-appeared on Dobby's face "Harry Potter is too kind".

"Say Dobby, how would you like to be my house elf, my only condition is that you must take a day off every week and you will receive 30 galleons every month. I don't want to see you in that torn cinder cloth, and hats stacked on your head.

Dobby was nodding violently, Harry was scared that his head might fall off. Dobby threw himself at Harry and hugged his knee. "Dobby will be very good Harry Potter sir" Dobby cried out "Dobby will do as he is told sir, Dobby will be the best house elf Harry Potter sir ever has."

"Good dobby, Now that we settled that, while I'm at Hogwarts, will you please join the other house elves at the kitchen." Dobby was clapping his hand like the otters at amusement park. "And Dobby please call me Harry".

Dudley let out a small yelp " what is that?"

"He is Dobby, He's an house elf, my house elf actually" Harry said.

He continued " sorry Dudley, I would have done magic if I could, and even them I won't know how to heal, but there is something that might help." He dug out the essence of murtlap from his trunk and gave it to Dudley.

Dudley took it and started applying " it does feel very good. You are not as much of a freak as I thought. You are fairly decent" he said.

"Most would say that. Thanks" Harry replied then he thought "this is certainly a first" then he added "alright get some sleep, before your mum comes. For all you know it might some how become my fault, so let me get some sleep before they get to me."

Dudley left with his body smeared with the essence of murtlap.

"Dobby where do you want to sleep. There is hardly any place here. I'll make space for you at the Potter mansion, can you sleep at Hogwarts till then". Harry asked dobby.

" master is too kind, I mean Harry is too kind" he modified after Harry lifted an brow. "Dobby has been sleeping in the attic. He has comfortable bedding there". Dobby replied

Harry was too tired now to argue. "Alright Dobby, I'll call you if I need you, just don't do any magic, I'll be in trouble for it."

Dobby left, and soon Harry drifted off to sleep.

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A/N: hi everyone.. i'm really sorry i dint upload the next chapter yet.. i've my project review scheduled for this week.. i have a hand written manuscript, just no time to type it.. i promise i'll complete chapter 8 by 15th april.. thanx for reading.. plz review.. i need more encouragement than i am getting.. thanx for reading.. i hope u all like it..


	5. Chapter 5

**_Disclaimer:_** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Harry Potter and The Prophecy As It Was**

**Chapter 5: Will reading**

On the day of Dumbledore's will reading, Hermione arrived in Harry's room.

Harry was ready on time and they both left for the Burrow. They heard molly call Ron down for breakfast. Ginny was already at the table.

"Coming mom!" Ron shouted back from his room.

"Good morning Molly !" Harry and Hermione chorused.

"Good morning dears, come have a seat, I'll get your toasts ready" she said gesturing them toward the table.

"Hey" Hermione greeted Ginny.

Harry kissed her and took a seat next to her. Ron came down from his room. "Hi" he said to everyone and kissed Hermione before grabbing some toast off the table.

At 9:45 Hermione asked the others to gather around in the living room.

"Be careful! Have your wands out! I don't care if you break a law of underage sorcery, just be safe." Molly told them "if the worse comes to worst you'll have to live in hiding. Its better than being killed."

By the time they got ready and Molly had hugged each of them it was 5 minutes to 10. and the portkey given by Ragnok triggered. They found themselves in the middle of a circular room. It was devoid of any decoration with a raised platform in the center which held a pensieve. No one else was present at the moment. They found seats marked with their names. Harry whispered to Ginny "I don't know how I'm going to hold up. I didn't know that I'll be seeing him like this. I thought it would be like a muggle will".

Ginny took his hands in hers and said "I'm right here if you need me. We are here because Dumbledore wanted us here."

As soon as the clock struck 10 a goblin entered carrying a chest. He took out a vial out of his pocket and emptied it into the pensieve. The silver liquid swirled in the pensieve and an image of Dumbledore rose up.

"Harry, Hermione, Ron and I'm hoping that Ginny is there with you." Dumbledore's voice boomed from the pensieve. "you must all share the burden that I've put on Harry and help him achieve it. I'm giving the four of you a few memories that I feel are important including those that I've already show Harry. I'm important that you keep it very safe. Don't let them fall into wrong hands. And once you have viewed them I recommend that you destroy it. Hermione, you have my collection of books. I would suggest you all to change your wands. Always have 2 wands on you. Disillusion the new one since its against the ministry's policy to carry 2 wands. There is a special request that I've made to Olivander to make you all customized wands. The letter will be given to you by the Gringotts employee who is monitoring the proceedings. And a stay together, don't let your trust in each other waver. You may confide in professor McGonagall and Kinsley. Above all always trust in the power of love."

The image swirled down back to the pensieve. The goblin came over and handed them the chest which he had been carrying. It contained 4 small vials with silver wisps of memory floating in them. The clock struck half past 10 and the door to the chamber opened allowing the other beneficiaries into it.

Soon people started getting settled in their seats. They recognized McGonagall, kingsley and Aberforth Dumbledore. Again the liquid in the pensieve swirled at 11. the image of Dumbledore rose up and spoke " I Albus Percival Brian Wulfric Dumbledore, state that this is my last statement of will given under witness and in sane state of mind. I permit the proceeding to be recorded for future reference by Gringotts."

"Minerva McGonagall, I transfer the leadership of the order to you. Auror Kinsley will be your second in command. My brother Aberforth will serve as your adviser.

The Dumbledore family fault is transferred to Aberforth. My trust funds are to be divided into 5 equal parts and 1 part given to each head of the charitable organization who have been gathered here.

The Gryffindor sword belongs to Harry James Potter. For any help from me, you have at your disposal my portrait and the sorting hat.

Minerva Please place the portrait and the hat in the room next to the headmistress's so that the 4 can have unrestricted access to it.

That is the end of my will. I wish you the best, may you succeed in every endeavor."

The image swirled down. The beneficiaries started leaving. McGonagall came over to the 4. she said "Harry, as the head of the order I wish for you to join it. You are too young to be joining but there is no other choice since you are in the middle of everything."

"Thank you professor" Harry replied "please give me some time to think it over." McGonagall nodded and left the hall.

"I need to withdraw some money, will you come with me or do you want to wait here. It's a nice roller coaster ride to the vault you know" Harry asked.

Ginny jumped at the offer "sure, I would love to."

Ron and Hermione hesitated "I've heard that the ride takes a bit of getting used to" Hermione asked unsure if she wanted to go on the cart.

"Oh come on! It'll be fun" Ginny tugged at her.

The goblin who heard the entire conversation neared them and snapped the door shut. "its against our law to talk ill of our clan members. You would do well to be cautious. And please return here to take your portkey back home."

They nodded "we'll return in 10 minutes, we hope we are not holding you back from your work" Harry asked.

"No Mr. Potter, its my pleasure to be serving you personally. Please wait here, I'll get a goblin to accompany you to your vault and do not trust anyone in my absence even if they appear to be me" and he left.

They waited for some time when the goblin returned with Griphook.

"Hello Mr. Griphook. how are you? Harry asked.

"I'm well, thank you Mr. Potter , good morning miss Weasley, miss granger, Mr. Weasley." Griphook greeted.

Harry asked the goblin who had been monitoring the will reading "I am sorry but we never introduced ourselves" he was interrupted.

"Every goblin here knows the four of you Mr. Potter and please call me Glumdook."

Griphook asked "are you ready Mr. Potter" Harry nodded and they all left.

They got into the cart, Hermione a bit unsteadily. Harry asked Griphook to go slow for Hermione's sake even though he liked the cart ride to be fast. He noticed that they were traveling through a different route from what he was used to.

"Why are we going through a different channel" he asked.

"The security has been tightened and we have made it a one track system instead of multi-tracks to monitor the channel. We need to got to the very end of the vault system where the tracks turn back to return. The journey is longer but there are lesser missing people." Griphook replied

"That's great, I have been wanting to see the family vault since the Ragnok mentioned it to me. Will we get to see them." He asked

"No Mr. Potter, you'll have to wait for a few more days to go to that side. The family vault is reached by a shaft system starting at the end of trolley tracks." Griphook replied.

They came to a halt and Griphook got out. Harry held out the lamp and the key for the goblin. This had become their standard ritual for every withdrawal since his 1st year at Hogwarts. When the vault door opened Ginny gave a yelp and Ron said "bloody hell! No wonder you bought out the chocolate trolley in our 1st year."

"this is all your too Ginny, take whatever you want. The same applies to the family vault as well once I can access it. Its ours now." He looked at Ginny as she turned towards him an said "you don't have to Harry. While I know how important money is, I also know that you and my family are much more important than all the gold and silver of Gringotts"

"I know I don't have to, but this is what I want to do" he said urging her to use the vault as her own. He moved closer to Hermione and whispered in her ears "you would have the same rights in a few more days. Maybe we should talk to Griphook about it".

"I don't want to access your vault Harry, but I would definitely want to know what the deal is, we must read the entire law and see that there are no loop holes" she whispered back.

"we'll ask Ron and Ginny to take the portkey home. We can follow once we have clarified it all." Harry said.

Ginny had rummaged through the vault, she had taken a few galleons into a pouch and was still looking for something.

"What are you looking for gin and what do you intend on buying from that little amount, you won't even get a grain of sand for that, no offence meant Ron" Harry humored.

"None taken mate" Ron shrugged.

"Well I was looking for the chest that generates money. I want to know if that is just a rumour or if its true." Ginny answered without discontinuing her search.

"Miss Weasley" Griphook interrupted her "let me assure you that there is no such chest out of which coins are conjured. All the gold, silver and bronze that are used Gringotts to make the coins are mined from unplottable locations from all over the world and minted here at Gringotts. The proof of these being original is very simple. Can any of you tell me about banishing objects?" he asked.

As was expected Hermione answered "there are two charms used for banishing objects. The one that we commonly use _depulso_ would banish any object whether it be conjured or real, and the object would be sent away, whereas the other is a counter charm for transfiguration and not summoning, in which any object that is conjured is returned to its original state of non-existence in the amount of time that it took to conjure the object. But no book in the library has ever mentioned the spell itself. I wonder why".

"Very correct Miss Granger. The spell is only accessible by ministry employees and Gringotts employee for security purpose. There are many spells which are not unforgivable but guarded by the ministry. This was done after Grindelwald banished the contents of the department of mysteries and all the memory records in the ministry." Griphook was interrupted by Hermione "I'm sorry but are you saying that all objects in the department of mysteries and all memories are conjured objects?"

"Yes Miss Granger. All memories are not true but how the person perceived a situation. It would take a great deal of command over emotions and thought process to judge a situation exactly as it was. And I believe you know some of the things inside the department of mysteries. Many are conjured objects themselves or stored in conjured objects because no element found on earth was suitable enough for storing a few objects. So back to where we started. Here let me demonstrate" he conjured a coin and then banished it. Then he picked a coin from Harry's vault and tried banishing it but the coin remained on his palm. "see." Griphook exclaimed "its real gold."

This time Ginny's eyes were even bigger as though she had been struck by a great realization. "Mr Griphook, are you a leprechaun".

"That was a very keen observation indeed. Although its knowledge remains only in folk lore, but yes I'm part leprechaun, and we are no exception to the Gamp's law of Elemental Transfiguration. I chipped a piece of my nail to conjure that gold coin. We can't conjure it out of thin air either. Well we seem to have spent a lot of time on your education. We should head back now."

Harry took some galleons out of the vault and asked Griphook to close it. They climbed the cart. This time the trolley took them ona different root than they had come in from. Suddenly Harry pointed out "look there, that's vault 713"

A moment later realization dawned on Hermione and she explained to Ginny "that's the vault where the philosopher's stone was guarded before it was taken to Hogwarts".

Harry looked a bit lost " had we not saved the stone that day, things would have been different. Voldemort would have come back in our 2nd year, then Malfoy would not have slipped a part of tom's soul along with Ginny's other books. The chamber would not have been opened. I would not have been required for his resurrection so I would not have been the champion of the triwizards tournament. Cedric would not have died. Maybe Sirius would have been alive now, with us. Just maybe" his voice became inaudible.

"Just look at it this way mate" Ron said "if he had come alive none of us would be alive today. Lets just get back to the Burrow if we are done here. Alright?

They reached back to the will reading chamber. Glumdook was waiting for them. "Can you please take Ron and Ginny back home. Hermione and I would like to consult Griphook over a few matters. Ginny gave him a suspicious look, then shrugged. Glumdook offered them the portkey and within a moment Ron and Ginny disappeared from their sight.

"Mr. Griphook" Harry started "can you please tell us about adopting a sister. I wish to adopt Hermione."

"It is possible to arrange for it on the 31st morning. But its not done anymore because it does not offer many benefits" he looked thoughtful "but I guess in your case it might be a good idea."

"What is this advantage or benefit that you talk about Mr. Griphook" Hermione asked " I read the law and it didn't say anything about it."

"Well since you come from a non wizarding background, you don't have a head to your house, who can represent you in the wizengamot. Once the ceremony is over Mr. Potter will be the head of the Potter family and you'll belong to it. You'll have access to the family vault until such a time when you are either married into another family or banished from the Potter family. Since you are a muggle born, you have not been able to challenge anyone if they question your ancestry. When you join the house of potters you may challenge anyone who questions your honour or that of the Potter house to a duel or the head of the house may challenge them to a duel. Of course before doing that you should make yourself aware of all the types of duels. That's about it. I am not sure how your mothers blood protection would work, but I guess both of you will remain protected by it." Griphook replied.

"What about the process, do we need to to read and sign any documents" Harry asked.

"No Mr. Potter, I believe that is how its done in the muggle world, but we perform a blood ritual. You both would have the same blood flowing through you once the ritual is complete." Griphook answered.

"Does that mean my blood group would change. It would be like not having my parents genetics in me" Hermione asked.

"No Miss Granger, you'll have your parents as your muggle guardian and you'll have the magical ancestry of the Potter family. While the basic composition of your blood will remain the same, its magical composition will be altered. Your name in all records will be changed to Hermione Jean Granger Potter. You may use either Miss Granger or Miss Potter, both will be valid in both worlds, magical and muggle.

"Well then that is alright" Harry replied "could you please schedule the ritual right after I have claimed my inheritance."

"Very well Mr. Potter, please wait here. I'll ask Glumdook to get your portkey" Griphook said and he left.

Not a few moments later Glumdook arrived "here Mr. Potter is your portkey." He walked with his hand stretched. Harry suddenly could smell something very different about the goblin.

Hermione was just about to take the key ring when Harry pulled her back. In a flash of a second he had his wand pointed at the goblin. "stay back, whoever you are, and don't move" Harry commanded.

"What's going on Harry" Hermione asked who also had drawn her wand and was in a defensive stance with a silver shield around both of them.

Just at that moment Griphook returned with Glumdook. He noticed the imposter and electric blue rays flew out of his finger tips and tied itself around the imposter like a rope.

"What happened Mr. Potter, I have alerted the goblin warriors about the attempt to take you captive." Griphook said and just a moment later 10 warriors marched in and took the imposter away. "I assure you that there will be an investigation into the matter. What made you suspect that he was not Glumdook" Griphook asked.

"I don't know, I cant quite pinpoint it, he had a maniacal gleam in his eyes like that portkey meant everything to him and him smell was different from any of yours, it carried an evil intent" Harry replied.

"I did see the spark in his eyes too, but I could not smell anything" Hermione added.

"I think I've heard this before, in this very chamber, but I cant remember who it was. Must have been really long back" Griphook was talking more to himself. "Anyways, I'll be in touch with you. Please take this portkey, it will take you to the burrow and we'll keep you informed about the investigation." Griphook said.

Harry thanked the goblins and they both portkeyed to the Burrow. Where they found Ron and Ginny playing chess and they both could see that Ron was going easy on her.

"hi guys!" Hermione greeted them.

"Oh great, your back. Lets have lunch, Ron's been dying of hunger since we got back" Ginny said.

"Oh more like you are trying to draw the match" Ron smirked "alright lets finish thisnand head to lunch, here, check and mate".

"you are such a spoil sport, you can't let me win once just for a change. Not even a draw." Ginny cribbed.

"Why? So that your grandchildren can boast about it to mine? No thanks." Ron replied while picking up his pieces and congratulating each one by name and then mended the broken pieces and put htem in the box.

"My grandchildren will have a lot more things to boast about to yours. Isn't it Harry? Ginny said with her hand on her hips.

"yeah, sure why not" Harry answered turning a bit red. Hermione was enjoying it thoroughly.

"Why don't we head down to the kitchen. We could check the memories out after lunch" Harry said trying to change the subject.

Hermione asked "are you two not going to ask us what we did at Gringotts" and raised her brow.

Ginny walked towards them and wrapped herself around Harry "you didn't want us to stay there, that means you don't want to tell us, but you did not hide the fact that there is something going on, so that only means you'll tell us when we need to know and since Harry is not sweating and the hair on his neck are not standing, its nothing bad. I think I can wait for it"

"Same for me except for the hair part, yours are always beautiful" Ron told Hermione.

"hey what do you mean, this is the trademark Potter hairstyle. Are you trying to insult my inheritance" Harry asked, trying very hard to look offended and failing miserably at it.

Ginny stood on her toe and brushed his lips with hers" your hair is the best Harry. Some day I'll get it to lie flat" then she kissed him.

"Ok, break it up, time for lunch" Ron said a bit more louder than was required.

"Mom and Fleur are out with Mrs. Delacour for some wedding arrangement so lets raid the kitchen. Whatever you find is yours to eat." Ginny shouted and before she even finished the sentence, Ron and Ginny were racing to the kitchen.

Fred and George came running down the stairs pushing and shoving each other. They shouted to Harry and Hermione as they ran "its food race, better catch up before everything is taken".

"when did those two get here. Lets go to the kitchen. Moments like these are when you wish Colin was hanging around us with his camera." Harry said and started walking towards the kitchen.

Harry and Hermione stood at the door and watched as the four Weasleys opened and emptied every jar in the kitchen.

There was a knock at the door, at the same moment the was tapping at the window.

"I'll get the window, you get the door" Hermione said. Harry nodded and went to open the door. He opened it to find Colin on his broom. "Hi Colin! What's up?" Harry asked "Do you come here often, did you want to see Ginny".

"Is this where you live or is it Ginny's place? I came here chasing my camera." Colin answered.

Hermione called from inside. "Harry better take the photograph soon before this food race ends or was it food fight" I think a camera came by mail. Weird though, it looks like Colin's"

"Come on in" Harry invited him " can you please take a picture for me while you are here. I think Hermione just found your camera."

"Sure! Will you autograph a copy for me" Colin asked bubbling with enthusiasm that could be matched to that of Dobby's.

Colin ran to the kitchen. Hermione handed him his camera and Colin got busy clicking photos. Once he had finished taking photos, he came out of the kitchen but somehow mysteriously the Weasley food race was still going on

"Colin, where do you live, don't you think muggles would have seen you flying a broom" Hermione asked.

" No! I got out of my house looking as if I was going to do public service and I ran towards the forest following my camera. Once inside the forest I started flying. Anyways it was great meeting u. I'll get the photos developed. I just wonder how the camera got here. Maybe you should get a camera of your own, then mine won't fly to u. see you at school. Say hi to Ginny from me." He mounted his broom.

"Yeah I'll do that, thanks Colin" Harry said.

"See you" Hermione added and Colin flew off.

She continued once he left "care to explain".

"No idea, I was just joking. I just pictured his camera that's all." Harry said trying to defend himself.

"I kind of noticed you doing the wrist movement of the summoning charm. Lets try something nearby. Try this vase. Don't use your wand. Concentrate on the wind carrying it" Hermione instructed.

Harry closed his eyes and concentrated on a wind cushion carrying the vase. The vase lifted a bit, then wobbled and crashed to the floor.

"_Reparo" _Hermione whispered and the vase reintegrated, she picked it up and placed it on the table next to the fire place.

"It did work a little. I'll try it at home" Harry said.

Ron and Ginny came out of the kitchen. Ginny's jeans were torn and Ron's shirt pocket was torn off.

"I got something for you two, there are rules against taking food into or out of the kitchen during a food race. Fred and George are waving the rule this once for you" Ginny rattled on.

"Ginny! Your jeans is torn and who makes these rules." Harry asked.

"Cool isn't it?" Ginny chirped at which moment Fred and George entered the living room.

"We all make the rules. During a food race anyone in the race is permitted to make new rules by shouting it out aloud. Mum joins us occasionally, I think its so that she can make rules" George said.

"Better join the race the next time. No one is allowed to marry a Weasley until they have participated in the food race" Fred said. "Ginny here is the youngest one to start playing. She joined when she was 3 ½ ." George gave a pat on Ginny's back and she nodded to reaffirm that it was true.

"Is this how all families are?" Harry asked.

"I don't think so Harry" Hermione replied "but if there are enough children in the house, I guess it can get out of control. Lets have lunch and then get to business."

Harry and Hermione had whatever Ginny and Ron had saved for them. After lunch Ginny got the chest to Ron's room, where they had all gathered. They each took a vial out to read the label.

Hermione had a vial labeled _Tom's six parts_.

Ron had _How to destroy a part that's outside. _

Ginny had _My duels and instructions from Perenel Flamel._

Harry had _The three times that the Potters and the Longbottoms defied Voldemort_

Also there was a note in the chest for Olivander to make them all custom made wands.

"How are we going to view it. We don't have a pensieve" Hermione asked disappointed that they would not be able to view the memories.

"Our options are to either buy one or borrow" Ron suggested.

"Dumbledore did have a pensieve, I wonder who has that" Harry wondered.

"Maybe we could make one" Ginny offered.

" we'll have to research it, but making it would take time and skill" Hermione answered. "I'll start reading up on it."

"We should get the wands made in the mean time" Harry suggested.

"We'll do that tomorrow" Ron said "Mione, you better keep this chest with you. It's the safest with u."

"I think I'll head back to privet drive, have a chat with dobby" Harry said, he sounded disappointed.

"Harry! Would it be alright if I came with you, Ron could come for me later." She said looking expectantly at Harry.

"yeah sure, lets go" he replied.

Hermione got ready to portkey. Both Harry and Ginny placed their hands on her shoulder.

"I'll come by around 7"Ron said before the three disappeared.

"I forgot to tell you that I'm going to Australia on a tour with my parents. We're leaving on 2nd august and I'll be back by 10th. Anyways you two have fun. I'll go back to Ron. He's a bit upset about me leaving but its just for around a week. I'll leave you two to yourselves now. See you later." Hermione said as she turned her portkey.

"so what do you want to do now" Harry asked her just then his aunt called for him. They decided to go down and check what was going on. "Coming Aunt Petunia" Ginny took out the invisibility cloak from his trunk and wrapped it over herself and then they went down.

"The cooking stove is not working. What did you do to it." Petunia asked.

"Let me try it" he said. The first time he turned the knob on there were sparks, so he tried again after getting the soot off the burner and adjusting the gas pipeline. This time it lit. "it should work now aunt Petunia"

Petunia turned the stove on and tried it again. Ginny could not bare the look on Petunia's face that clearly depicted no gratitude to Harry for helping her out. Instead Petunia still looked convinced that it was Harry who had damaged the stove. When Petunia tried to light the stove again, Ginny guided the flame with so much energy that the flames went as high as the roof and burnt the chimney that had been newly installed. Petunia's apron caught fire and Ginny just stood there loving every moment of tormenting Petunia. Harry quickly put out the fire by hosing the kitchen down using the garden pipe. Petunia was even more furious now. "This is all your fault, no food for you for the next 2 days, off to your room and don't dare to come down".

Even though Ginny was raging with fury she dint want Harry to be in more problem, so she just followed Harry back to his room. Once inside she apologized. "Don't worry about it Ginny. Its not like I've been eating here that it should bother me. Maybe I can spend the night in peace. Won't have to do the dishes. Anyways, do you want to see my parents photograph? Hagrid gave them to me at the end of my 1st year." Ginny nodded.

They both sat down on the corner of the bed resting their back against the wall. Harry put his hand around her shoulder, and started flipping through the pictures.

"I was so close to getting to know them. Its always been like this. When I first looked into the Mirror of Erised, I thought I could be with my parents. Then I searched for their portraits but could not find any. Why do portraits talk and not photos?" Harry asked.

"I'm sorry Harry. I'm sure Hermione will find a way to view the memories." Ginny assured "and as for your searching for your parents portraits, I think you might find one in the family vault. Its tradition in most wizarding families to get a portrait made on the wedding day. But you have to understand that even portraits are only impressions, very cleverly done though. It will hold all the information the person knew upto the day the portrait was completed. We will get to know your parents Harry. Maybe not as parents because they would not have any knowledge of having you but we'll know them as they were then. I wonder if photos can be embedded with a person's thoughts".

Harry let out a sigh and cleared his head "here I am sitting with the most beautiful girl in the world, and all I can think of is portraits and photos. So tell me what do you want from me.?"

Ginny relaxed a bit seeing that Harry was ok and she sat on his lap. "I don't know about what you could give me but I'm sure you'll enjoy my gift." She said and kissed him. They both lost track of time.

They heard a cough and slowly broke apart. "Ah! So finally the two of you decided to hear the sounds which I've been making." Ron said. Hermione just stood beside him, enjoying the show.

Harry exasperated "What! Is it 7 already?"

"No mate! Its 8. I thought I'll give you an hours extra time" Ron said.

"More like he wanted to snog Hermione for an extra hour" Ginny rolled her eyes as she said it. "Ok, I'm coming!"

"Be ready by 11. we'll go to Olivanders tomorrow" Hermione said. "I better leave now. Good night" she kissed Ron and turned her portkey.

"See you tomorrow Harry." Ginny kissed Harry and Ron turned the portkey when Ginny was ready.

Harry just lay there on the bed thinking about everything that had happened that day and how great it felt to truly love someone.

Hermione had told Ron all about the goblin who turned out to be an imposter and Ron recited the entire story to Ginny.

After such a long day and the food race sleep over came Ginny's curiosity to here more and she went to sleep on Ron's bed.

Ron had to go to Ginny's room to sleep and hated the soft pink drapes and bed sheet terribly but it was better than risking once life by sleeping in Fred or George's room.

Even after all the excitement of the day, Harry didn't feel sleepy, so he called dobby.

They both chatted over a lot of things, mostly all the secret paths around Hogwarts and the menu for the year beginning feast. Harry felt complete. It was almost like he had felt when he looked at the mirror of erised. Dobby reminded him that he must sleep so that he could go to Olivander's with his Miss Wheezy. And at dobby's request, Harry went to sleep.

Hermione had dinner with her parents and told them about the economical crisis in the wizarding world. She had planned on leaving her parents in Australia and alter their memories until Voldemort was gone. It was a tough decision and one that had to be made. She had just come to terms with what needed to be done and wanted to spend more time with them before they left for Australia. They watched _Mary Poppins, _one more time. It had been her favourite movie as a child. The Grangers sat talking till late in the night. At 3 in the morning, Dr.(Mrs) Granger insisted on all of them going to bed even though they were not sleepy, since they had to open their clinic the next day.

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A/N: hello everyone.. i'm sorry i took so long to update this chapter. i've been really busy lately. i'll upload the next chapter in a weeks time.. **plz review.** let me know if it gets too mushy..

thanx for reading. luv u all


	6. Chapter 6

**_Disclaimer: _**It's my plot and Rowling owns everything else. No money is being made (everyone knows that). And thanks to Picky() for the review. I'm writing that here because I could not reply to anonymous review.

**Harry Potter and The Prophecy As It Was **

**Chapter 6: Visit to Olivander's**

At 10:30 everyone was gathered at the Burrow. Mrs. Weasley had made breakfast for all of them. At 11 the four got ready to leave for Olivander's. They flooed to Diagonalley and walked into the wand maker's shop.

"I was wondering when I'll be seeing you again. Albus had mentioned it to me. Did you bring his note. Can't make new wands without authorization." Olivander asked

"We did get it sir" Hermione produced the letter.

"Well then let's get on with the measurement. This wand will be better than your first one. The wand core and the encasement both will be separately selected for each of you."

The measuring tape started measuring all four of them. And unlike their first year when the tape would not stop until it was told to, this time it took five readings of each and stopped. "Hmm.. curious, very curious. You don't fail to surprise me Mr. Potter. And this time you have got company. It should be challenging. Let's go into the cellar where I store the cores. We don't want peeping toms, now do we?" Olivander prodded them toward a dark door at the back of the shelves. They followed him quietly. None of them had dared to talk since they had entered the shop. Once they entered the cellar, they were taken completely by surprise. It almost looked like the department of mysteries. There were delicate strings of every color and material floating in small globes that looked completely unearthly. Some were kept in complete dark, some in bright light, some were stored in hearths with flames reaching till the ceiling and some were kept frozen in ice.

"You will each need a 14 ½ inch wand. Very rare. Let's start with the youngest." Olivander said. Ginny stepped forward. "Hold your hand forward, close your eyes and feel for a sensation of longing to be one" once Ginny did as instructed, Olivander guided her through each section that he felt would be compatible. He first went towards a shelf filled with black translucent spheres. She started feeling each of them one by one. There were more than a thousand spheres. Ginny was getting frustrated. After half an hour of search, she opened her eyes and said "I think the core I need, will be in the hearth."

"Very well, if you feel so strongly about it, let's do that" Olivander said and took her near the flames. He asked her to reach out and feel the spheres inside the flames. She did and one by one, she went through 10 spheres. Just as she reached out for the 11th sphere, she felt the enter room grow warm and the sphere flew into her palm. As soon as the sphere touched the palm it started to glow and the string inside of it changed its color from red to incandescent white.

"I think we have found you a core. Now what is it that you are not telling me. Is it the ease with which you put your hand into fire when any sane person would have thought I was mad to be asking that of you. Or how none of your friends even flinched. Mr. Potter must rule the winds. Am I right?" Olivander asked with a gleam that could have outshined the brightest star.

"Yes, but how did you know sir?" Harry asked.

"Because only air can fuel the flame. The kind of trust in each other that is required for the nature to bestow such great powers on you can only be seen in married couples. Perenel and Nicholas Flamel had been married for 20 years when they got their powers. Cassandra and William Trelawney were married for 15 years. It's curious that nature would choose you for such great responsibility. But still you have proven to be braver than most of what is left of the glorious magical world" Olivander spaced out for several minutes. And when he recovered, his entire disposition changed from that of a workaholic who cared of nothing else to that of a loving grandfather. "Well let get on with it then. Miss Weasley, please feel free to go though the various encasement material in those shelves" and he pointed to three huge stacks of multicolored material. "Now I guess you all know your powers, no need to test those. Mr. Potter, please reach out for every sphere in the wind chamber behind the fountain. Mr. Weasley, do you rule earth or water?"

"Earth sir" he replied.

"Then, uproot those beet and potatoes, instead of the tuber and bulbs you'll find spheres. Feel for the sensation. If you don't feel it then plant it back and go for the next. That brings us to you Miss Granger, you must rule the waters. Let's take a look at what is compatible with you."

Hermione followed Olivander to the small frozen pond. She could she fish swimming inside. She deduced that only the surface was frozen. There were only 3 globules inside the pond. Small crystals were strewn on the silt floor. Olivander cut a round opening into the ice. Hermione expected him to fetch the spheres for her but instead he asked her to dip her hand into the pond.

"It's not cold at all Mr. Olivander then how did the ice form" Hermione asked.

"Cassandra guided the water to form the ice. The pool hasn't been touched for 300 years. It was her instruction that only when her successor comes for a wand should this pool be opened. And once your core has been selected, you must seal it again." Olivander instructed.

"Then how do you feel the fish sir, and how have these fish survived here for 300 years without food." Hermione asked

Just then a fish nipped at her finger tips. It was a strange feeling. It almost felt like the fish spoke to her.

"The pool is not what it looks like from here. It is connected to the seas. And the fish collect material for the wand core and bring it here when they think the time is right." Olivander replied.

A fish swam around Hermione's palm, it was pure white with sparkling fins. It touched Hermione's palm after a while and suddenly a voice reached her head. It was calm and soothing. "Greetings my lady, we have waited for you for a very long time. I am Vrail, guardian of the cores. Let us try these three." He said.

Hermione replied through her mind link "yes please Vrail, I am very happy to see u. you are the first of your kind that I'm talking to. I did not even know that I could communicate with other life forms."

Three fish carried the first sphere. Its surface was very slimy. As soon as Hermione touched the sphere, the sphere shot away. "Clearly that was not it" she told Vrail.

This time a larger globule was carried by 5 tiny fish. As soon as the sphere touched her skin, shivers ran down her back. "That is definitely not what I want" Hermione told Vrail.

Vrail replied "one core rejected you and the other you rejected. The first was a shark nerve chord. The second was jelly fish tentacle string. Let's try the last one"

"Those are not even magical creatures, how can they give wand cores" Hermione asked

Vrail answered "they are magical my lady. It is a misconception that they are non-magical just because they are visible to muggles. The sharks are considered as pure as unicorns and their nerve chord is generally used in the wands of those with ambition to control others minds. Jelly fish cores are used along with octopus eyes for flexible dueling wands."

This time the fish brought the last sphere. A tingling sensation ran through her body then it was followed by a feeling of cool fresh water splashing on her. A power surged through her and the tips of her finger shone an electric blue. "It's definitely this" she declared to Vrail. He replied "Let's try the encasement." He brought various shoots from all types of water plants. The one that she so far had like was lotus stalk but it dint feel good. It was just a neutral feeling. "Let's keep trying, I don't quite like any of those till now" she told Vrail.

"Of course my lady, we shall not stop till you are satisfied" Vrail replied and the fish kept bringing various materials. It was more than an hour since she had tried every plant possible, she got impatient and in her desperation to find the perfect encasement for the core she unconsciously summoned the thing that she felt was perfect for her wand. "That is not even on the list of materials for making wand encasements my lady, are you sure you feel strongly enough about it."

"Yes Vrail. It's perfect. I can feel the core's energy mingling with it." Hermione said "Please tell me more about the core and the encasement"

"The core is from the hair of the 7th merchild of the queen of the 7 seas. The 7th merchild is considered to be of great powers and there have been only three 7th borns in the recorded history. The name of the merchild whose hair you hold was Ambri. She lived 200 years ago and has only given one hair for the core. During her reign all sea creatures lived in harmony. It is said that she fought against the giant with liquid fire pouring out of it, to save the villages near by. She created a whirlpool around the giant and all the fire went into the air instead of spreading around in the water and crashed onto a desert island. The encasement is the lime in the oyster shell. Since you felt neutral to lotus stalk, we'll coat that on both sides with the oyster shell. We'll fix a sapphire at the end of the wand to concentrate your magic even more" Vrail answered. He asked her to come back the next day to collect her wand, she said farewell to Vrail and the fishes who had helped her, and she turned to talk to Olivander. But he wasn't there. "May be he's with the others".

Meanwhile, Ron was having a lovely time, playing with the tubers. He had uprooted and planted back twenty beets and potatoes. "Will I ever find something that's compatible with me." The earthworms had been helping him in identifying the material in each sphere.

"Sure you will, my lord. Please try the next one. The one at the corner is a hair string of princess Nixa, the warrior wood nymph." As soon as he held it in his hand, the sphere repelled him. "Apparently not this one either" Ron acknowledged.

"Next we can try, the sphinx feather. It's the second from right on the second row." The chief earthworm guided.

"Sure, why not." And he dug out a golden sphere. All the rest had been transparent. As soon as his hand touched the sphere, the golden light burst through, and a roar filled the entire room. "That was bloody brilliant" Ron said.

Hermione followed the flash of light, and met Ron. "Hi Ron! What do you have so far. I saw a flash of light from here."

"My wand core is a sphinx feather." Ron told her. She told him about hers.

"I'll leave you to find your encasement, let me see where Harry is" Hermione left.

She walked through the water curtain into the wind chamber. It was a circular chamber with a soft wind circulating in it. When she reached Harry, he looked frustrated. "Hi Harry. Everything does not look alright" she said.

"Hi Mione! I've tried around 50 cores. Not even one is even mildly compatible with me."

Harry said.

"Keep trying Harry. You'll eventually get it." Hermione encouraged him.

"That's what Ginny said half an hour back when Olivander came to take her somewhere for finding an encasement for her core" Harry said.

"What all have you tried till now" she asked.

"Lets see, I tried hippogriff feathers, phoenix feathers, centaurs tails, unicorn tails, demiguise skin, kneazle whiskers, kelpie tail and many more. I am exhausted I need to eat now." Harry said.

"Have you tried vela hair, werewolf whisker. Creatures which are in human form. Vampire may be?" Hermione asked.

"We can have a go at those." Harry said and he summoned a few crystal spheres, which floated to him on a cushion of flower petals.

"Is this how you have been summoning the spheres." She asked.

"Yes" Harry replied.

"Harry, I want you to try fairy wings with dandelion stalk as your wand core" Hermione said excitedly.

Harry looked at her suspiciously but summoned it anyways. Instead of a sphere a colorful ball of fur came flowing to him. It landed on his outstretched hand. "Greetings my lord!" the colorful ball greeted him and unfurled itself and turned out to be the prettiest fairy he had ever seen.

Harry was a little flustered. "Hello, I dint mean to summon you, I only wanted a wing, but I didn't mean to pluck it out of a live fairy. I'm sorry"

"One can not have a fairy wing unless the fairy herself gives it to them willingly. And I won't pluck it out, I will only sprinkle a bit of fairy dust on the dandelion stalk you summoned. You will also need to use a wood nymph hair in the core with the fairy dust. Let us test you for compatibility with the fairies." The fairy said.

"You mean there are more of you here" Harry asked her.

"Yes of course. Fairies cannot live in isolation. We feed of the happiness around us. A fairy will die if people around her are sad." The fairy answered.

"Tell us more about you" Hermione said.

"I am Firsa, princess of the fairy realm in all the surrounding shrubs. We call ourselves the fairies of Lobelia. We are 349 fairies in our clan." She answered.

"Do you mean to say I'll have to be matched with 349 fairies for compatibility." He sighed.

"No my lord. 154 of them are male. The male members do not fly. And 100 are still larva. So there are only 95 female fairies. And of those 51 who are too old to part with enough dust for a wand. So that leaves us with 44 and you have already touched me and felt nothing leaving 43 others." She sung a soft tune and soon colorful fur balls came flowing in the draft of air to him. Firsa tuned another note and they all lined up in order of color, violets on left and reds on right, like a rainbow.

"Ginny should have been here" Harry said "she would have loved this"

He held out his palm for the fairies and one by one each flew to him. He started loosing hope by the time he finished with red, orange and yellow. Suddenly he felt his entire magical core shine and him being weightless. He started floating in air. On his hand was a fairy with green hair and green eyes. Her wings were gold. She had a violet tunic made from sweet pea flower.

She introduced herself to Harry "greetings my lord! I am Alirha, I am the caretaker of sweet peas and cherry blossoms."

"Hello! I'm really glad I found someone as sweet as you for my wand core. You'll always be very close to me. Thank you so much for your generosity." Harry replied.

The other fairies got four dandelion stalks, and Harry quickly selected one of them.

Hermione told him about the wood nymph hair which Ron had tried earlier.

"Let's try the encasement before we leave the chamber" Hermione suggested.

"May I suggest cherry blossom wood, since you were compatible with me, you will be compatible to the wood as well." Alihra said as other fairies brought the wood. When Harry touched it he felt a sense of fulfillment.

"I like this wood. It makes me feel better about myself. Thanks for your help Alihra. May I take your leave Princess." He turned towards Firsa. The two fairies bowed to him and flew away.

Harry and Hermione went back to Ron. They told him what had transpired in the wind chamber. Hermione asked him to get the nymph hair so that Harry can be tested for it.

Harry held his hand open for the sphere with the dandelion stalk which was filled with fairy dust. As soon as the wood nymph hair sphere touched his hand he knew for sure that the winds were at his command.

"I would better give this to the fairies to have it made." Harry said and went back to the chamber.

"So did you find your core encasement" Hermione asked.

"Yes! The problem is that I've found two woods which are equally good and I don't know how to choose one over the other. One is Rose wood and the other is Oak wood" Ron replied.

"You don't have to choose between those two, if you feel strongly enough for both then have them intermingled" Hermione suggested.

"Can that be done" Ron asked.

"Sure! If Harry can use three components for his wand core then I think it's possible to use two for encasement. I am using two as well." Hermione replied.

Just then Ginny and Olivander came out of a dark room.

"Guess what" Ginny jumped with excitement.

By then Harry had come out of the wind chamber and joined them.

"My core is the fire breeding salamander nerve chord which had lived in magical fire for 25 years and the encasement is a dragon fang. It will need a little carving and shaping up before I can use it but nothing that Mr. Olivander can't do" Ginny said.

"Of course my dear. It shall be ready by tomorrow." Olivander replied.

The other three talked about their wands and Olivander kept nodding most of the time, indicating that he approved their choice. Then they bid him farewell and promised to come by the next day to collect their wands.

They were all hungry and decided to head back home. They flooed back to the Burrow from Weasley Wizarding Wheezes after a small chat with Fred and George. Molly was not at home but she had left loads of food on the table on which all four of them pounced.

Fred and George joined a few minutes later.

"How do you know when we are having a food race, I did not even call out to start" Ginny asked.

The twins looked at each other, winked at her and continued the food race without giving her the satisfaction of knowing anything.

"One day I'll get to the bottom of this" she said.

It was 5 by the time they had cleaned up all the mess. The twins had made a huge fuss about Harry and Hermione now officially being Weasleys.

Hermione realized that she needed to leave so that she could spend more time with her parents. Harry wanted her to drop him off at privet drive before the twin did something drastic in their excitement.

Just moments after all the partying, each of the four was in their room, the weight of the task ahead lying heavily on their conscious. They knew well that brand new wands were not for play. Soon the winds would change. And soon storms would rise.

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A/N: hello everyone.. i'll try to write more over the week end but can't promise anything coz i hv a lot of work.. also i'm very sorry abt the spelling issue. i hope its not so bad that u cant even guess what it is. thanx for reading.

luv u all

ash


	7. Chapter 7

**_Disclaimer: _**It's my plot and Rowling's Character and everything. No money is being made (everyone knows that). And thanks to Doublepea() for the review. I changed milfoil to Malfoy, that was a typing error. And I got 'dint' to be change to 'didn't' in auto correct. Thanks again. I'm writing that here because I could not reply to anonymous review.

**Harry Potter and The Prophecy As It Was **

**Chapter 7: Will he pass or not.**

It was the morning of 24th day of July. The day on which Ron had his second and final shot at getting an apparition license. Naturally, Hermione was hysterical.

"Calm down Hermione, no point worrying. And I remember everything I need to. Its just three words after all. Destination, determination and deliberation." Ron said.

The previous day they had all visited Olivander's to get their wands. Once Hermione got her wand Olivander had asked her to seal the frozen surface and then they all had returned back home. Hermione had gone to the library to look up details on how to make a pensieve. Ron had been thankful that she had occupied herself with something else. She had made him go over the steps of apparition so many times that he had forgotten the count. Arthur Weasley arrived at the floo to take Ron to the ministry for his testing.

"Morning kids" Arthur greeted "Are you ready to go Ron?"

"Good morning Mr. Weasley" Harry and Hermione greeted him.

Ron got his robes. Shouted his bye to Ginny and Molly who were in the kitchen, and they shouted back to him.

"Good luck mate" Harry patted on his back.

"Thanks" Ron replied, and then stepped into the floo after Mr. Weasley.

Harry joined Molly and Ginny in the kitchen. "Molly could you teach me some of these house keeping spells" Harry asked.

"Of course dear. There are a few that you should perfect. First is _pack_, for packing your luggage. The spell itself is quite simple but you need to concentrate on all the things that must be put into the container in exactly the order that it must go in and arrange" she said "and don't think just because you can do all your spells perfectly you'll get this one. Take Tonks for example, even she can't get it straight and she's one of the best aurors there is. Then there is the healing charm, very useful. _Episky_ to cure minor cuts and burns. There is _consecio_ for chopping, the size of the chopped part depends on the decibel level when you say chant the spell. Here you can practice a bit on these onions" Molly said.

After several attempts at _consecio _and even a few _Episky, _Harry asked her "Molly how did you learn all these spells. Those which are not taught at Hogwarts" Harry asked.

"Harry dear, Hogwarts teaches you how to learn. When ever I needed anything I have been able to learn it. But what helped me a bit more is that my grandmother taught me Latin. I don't know much, but enough to understand spells." Molly replied.

"She worked as a spell creator in the ministry of magic you know" Ginny chipped in.

"Then why did you not teach it Ron and Ginny?" Harry asked.

"Oh I just never found time for it, I did teach bill but after that the house was always crowded with kids. May I should have" Molly sighed.

"Could you teach us now? Please!!" Harry pleaded "it would be very useful".

"Please mum" Ginny added.

"Oh alright" Molly said "it'll only take a few minutes from me, the rest you'll have to read up, but I could get you started."

By the time the three finished cooking the lunch, it was twelve. They set the table and had some tea while waiting for Ron and Arthur to return. Hermione came in through the floo carrying a stack of books taller than her and parchment tucked under her arm.

Harry rushed to take the load off her.

"Is there any book left in the library mione or did you carry the entire lot" Harry asked sarcastically. "Isn't there any restriction on the number of books one can borrow?"

"Not for newt level students but they have to returned within two days."

"So you are telling me that I spent an entire year worrying about issuing more than what is on my slot and pay fine, when I could have borrowed the library itself" Harry asked exasperated.

"Yes, that's what I'm telling you" Hermione replied "I would have told you about it, if you had not been stuck with your prince for more than half of the year"

"That is plain evil mione" Harry said "you have learned well from us".

"What did you research on" Ginny asked.

"I think we can make a pensieve, I will need more time though. Still a pensieve of our own is better than a borrowed one. People will be able to get the shadows of the memories we viewed out of the pensieve." Hermione answered "what's even more interesting was that in every text I read about pensieve making, the Ayer rock of Australia was mentioned. The Uluru as its called in its native tongue, is a magnetic mound located on a major planetary grid point. The Aborigines believe that there is hollow below the rock, and that there is an energy source that they call Tjukurpa, which means the dream time. So I can only deduce that they start viewing the memories and think they are dreaming. If we can study and replicate that place here we would be able to view memories. Ron would be able to rise a scaled down version of the rock and" Hermione stopped talking mid way through and noticed Harry signaling her and then realized that Molly was right there besides Ginny. In her excitement to explain the working of a pensieve she had forgotten that Molly had no idea about their elemental powers.

"Excuse us for a moment" Hermione pulled Harry to the kitchen. "I have been testing it out Harry, and it has worked, I don't know if I should try it on Molly for ethical reasons."

"Mione, stop fidgeting, what are you talking about." Harry asked Hermione.

"I can obliviate her. I don't know if I should, but if we don't then she is sworn to tell about it to the order, and we don't want that happening" Hermione was loosing her nerve again.

"What do you mean obliviate her, they don't teach it in school, I searched for it in the library last year, it wasn't there, how did you learn" Harry was getting agitated to.

"I'll tell you that later, it's amazing how we can control the body using our powers, but do we obliviate her now. When will Ron be back, we need to ask him and Ginny. We just can't tell her. It was different with Fred and George, they are not sworn to give every detail. I just told them that whatever it is must not reach the order and they dropped it off. How dumb am I, going on blabbering like that" Hermione was now pacing up and down the kitchen.

"Let's just go there and wait for Ron to come back and then we'll talk to him. Ok. And you took Fred and George's word. Just calm down. Everything will be fine" Harry led her out of the kitchen

A few minutes later Ron came in through the floo and Hermione pounced on him. She started dragging him into the kitchen. Molly was still wondering what all the fuss was about.

"Mione! It was just an apparition license test" Ron was protesting even though he was quite overjoyed about being dragged into the kitchen.

"Good Ron! But it's not that, I made a huge mistake" and then she related the entire story to him.

"It's not that bad" Ron said "if you can fix it, then its good"

"But it's unethical Ron" Hermione said.

"I know Mione, but the situation calls for us to take appropriate action, would you rather have a spy in the order hear of it or the order using us for their small planned night strolls" Ron argued.

"Well when you put it that way" Hermione started.

"Listen Mione, we are trying to protect her, let's do this before dad comes back from office." Ron said and they both returned to the living room where Molly was continuing to read witch weekly.

"Molly, I'm sorry I'm having to do this, but it's for your own good" Hermione said, but Molly did not answer back.

"What's wrong with her" Ginny cried.

They all stood in shock for some time when Harry moved near Molly and sensed the air around her. "It's my fault, I did not want her to move from her position till we came to a conclusion, I think in the excitement about everything I just did not realize that I put her into an induced sleep. I can't understand how I did it though, the air around her ears and mouth feel light, it's not the air we breathe. But I suggest that you modify her memory before we wake her up again." Harry said.

Soon Molly was up and Ron had to pretend like he just entered in through the floo, Ginny guided the flames to look like the green flames in the floo network. Once all the celebration on Ron's license was over they went up to Ron's room and Hermione continued the theory behind pensieve making. She concluded saying "between the four of us, I don't think there will be much of a trouble. I'll research it when I go there over the next week."

"What's wrong Mione, are you alright? What is it that is bothering you, don't you want to go with your parents" Ginny asked.

Hermione sighed "we have been having such a wonderful time for the past one week that we have forgotten the real situation. When I go to Australia with them, I am not going for a tour, I am going there so that I can get them settled there. I don't want them here until the war is over. I am going to obliviate them, so that they don't remember me at all. That way they will be safe. I'll be able to reverse it when it's all over, but till then will be very painful." She had tears in her eyes.

Harry put a hand around her shoulder and held her firmly. "It will be over soon Mione."

"Yes, I know" she answered "Now to answer your question Harry, while I was trying to get hold of the memory charm, I flipped through our book and it said that elementals had ways to work on living beings. Memory is basically the communication between different sections of the brain cells."

"Do you mean we have cells in our brain to keep memories in captured" Ginny asked.

"No Ginny, not those cells, we'll have to study a lot about Human body to master this. Maybe we could ask someone to get us a healer's manual. But anyways, when I alter the flow of water in the brain, the person losses the contact to a certain portions of the brain in which the memory was stored. Similarly, Ron can control the flow of salts to alter memories and perception, Harry like he demonstrated a while back controls the body movement, and can cause hallucination, meaning a feeling of a false surrounding and from what I gathered from the text, it was very obscure" she added "Ginny can control life. The statement in the book was that she controls the spark of life. Most philosophers believe fire to be the element that is closest to having a life of it's own. It's born, it grows, it feeds, and it dies. The soul in sentinel beings is made of the spark of life. You can control that"

"Then our work is really simple isn't it? Ginny can take the life out of every horcrux and Voldemort. Everything will be over, we just need to find the horcrux." Harry asked excitedly.

"I don't think so Harry, every action of ours has consequences. Why do you think we got these powers?" Hermione asked.

"To defeat Voldemort" Harry answered.

"Partially that is true. We have been given these powers to keep the elements in balance. Voldemort has been destroying the balance, therefore it's our responsibility to stop him" she said.

"So where's the problem in it" Ron asked.

"Every time we use our powers an imbalance is created which takes a long time to come to equilibrium. When I summoned the rain storms, I did not realize that some other part of the world had an instant desertification. When Harry summoned the winds, there were blizzards and twisters elsewhere to cover up for the depressions in pressure. When Ginny calls on the fire, the core of the earth goes cold for some time, she require the heat generated by 2 burning willow tree to be summoned to light a match, because it takes that much energy for the fire to reach her from the earth's core and when Ron creates a mountain here an equal sized depression is formed somewhere. Thankfully it was in the ocean last time you caused a tremor" Hermione said. "I think we better stick to usual magic to fight Voldemort until the last moment at least" she concluded.

"So that effectively brings down all our adventures to a stop" Ginny said "Let's go down, mom promised to teach us spell creation."

"Wow, I've heard a lot about it from bill, apparently she taught him everything that he knows today and he still consults her over a lot of stuff" Ron added.

Soon they were all gathered around Molly for their lesson. She brought out her old Latin books and spell grammar book.

"Is that all mom" Ron asked.

"There is never an end to learning languages, but this should be sufficient enough for you to understand all existing spells. Once you are done with these you can come to me I'll give you more. Now, Lets start" she said "the good part about spell creation is that you have to learn only nouns and verbs. There are four types of spells. Those which are unique that is a single word spells for example_ Nox_, _Alohomaora, Colloportus _which don't need any suffix to along with the verb. The noun in it is implicit. Most of the spells fall into this category. The second kind is where two words are used, at least one of the words has to be a verb. The second word can be used to either direct the spell at an object for example Scarpin's Revelaspell, _Specialis Revelio _it's function is to reveal, specialis directs the spells at only those objects which are hidden from the spell caster. Then there are spells like Wingardium Leviosa. Wingardium is the verb, which means fly high, leviosa is the means to achieve the desired result. That is, how should the object fly high? By becoming lighter than the air. Then there are spells like _avada kedavra_, which comes from _abracadabra_originally from Aramaic meaning let the thing be destroyed, originally used as a means of healing, it's still used by healers, under dire circumstance. It depends on the intention of the caster. That is why you need hatred toward the person you are casting it on. And the last is when a verb is used along with an adverb, like _lumos maximus_, where maximus is to increase the intensity, similarly heat control spells you use in the potions lab." She paused for Hermione to finish taking the notes.

"The next are the spells with three, four or sometimes even five words. Generally there are two nouns in both these types. But it can also be maximus or minima. Like _Peskipiksi Pesternomi _which is a conjunction of five words. _Pesky_ meaning annoying, _pixie_ meaning the being itself, _pester_ meaning to annoy, _no_ for negative and _me_ for the first person pronoun. And the last are the most complicated because they are enchantments derived from elfish language and we still don't understand their language, they have kept it a close secret. Those are verses that very few understood. Dumbledore and Flitwick understood it. Like the fidelius charm. Lily was very good at it. She had befriended all the Potter house elves and learnt a lot from them. They had extracted a promise from her to not reveal the structure of their language. She was an auror for a year before she joined the department of mysteries." Molly concluded "Well that's about all. Come to me if you have doubts"

"Did you know my mother" Harry asked her,

"Not well dear, she was the head girl when Bill was in his first year and I got to hear a lot about her from him. She really had to look after him I guess. What with your dad wanting to rag the first years. And then we ran into each other when I went to the ministry for spell detection or creation. She was very good at charms work, she didn't fancy curses much which is why she resigned from DMLE. But she was good at that too, she was one of the few who had openly challenged you-know-who" she looked at Harry for a moment and then added "Don't look at me like that, fine, Voldemort" she said hesitantly. The day you got that scar your parents were greatly outnumbered. Seven to two. I think your parents had planned it that way, that your father will hold them back till your mother is able to transfer the blood protection. It was a series of spells she had been working on ever since she heard the prophecy. No one else knew about it, she did not want Voldemort to get to know anything about it. These are the only type of spells that Voldemort is unaware of because no being would share such knowledge with him. We know that from Severus, even though his death eaters are competent enough. They either torture their elves to teach them or the elves themselves are so committed to the families that they are unable to refuse" She answered.

"Then we must learn that too" Hermione said.

"It's not that easy" Molly answered "elfish enchantments vary from person to person. The spell used by me to cast fidelius charm would be different from the one that any other would cast, even though the effect would be the same. One needs to be trained by elves to be able to cast it." Molly answered.

"What other enchantments fall into this category" Hermione asked.

"There a few that you may have heard of. The supersensory charm, Taboo, Fiendfyre." Molly was listing out.

"What was that last one" Ginny asked.

"The fiendfyre curse dear, the curse causes to animate the fire to grow into a beast and destroy the enemy of the caster. The fame chases the enemy consuming everything on its way and growing in heat and size until the enemy is dead or if a barrier is created through which not even air can pass." Molly answered "I better get back to the kitchen and start preparing the supper, I am sure you'll all feel hungry after clamming up so much at once. Feel free to ask me if you have any doubts, I'll try to help as much as I can"

It was 7 when Molly called them for dinner.

While having their dinner, Ron suddenly remembered his apparition license test.

"No one even asked me about the test. You remember I had gone to the ministry to take the test" Ron asked a bit sarcastically.

"There's not much that you can't do Ron, we knew you would pass. I'm sure the dust helped you out." Harry said as he winked at him.

"Well, I passed. There is no need to congratulate me" he said with a huff "and no, the dust did not help me" he whispered into Ginny's ears "It only brought my left ear back to me. That's all, don't tell Mione"

Soon they finished dinner and Harry and Hermione portkeyed back to Harry's room.

A/N:

Hello people!!

I am going to strive to keep each chapter's length around 3000. I realized chapters longer than that get a bit boring. I'll skip to 31st July in the next chapter. Lots will happen in it and the 9th chapter. Please let me know if I missed out any spell type. Sorry about the spelling issues, I try my best to be careful but I am not able to see my own mistakes.

Please review. Flames are ok too, I will learn from it (sounds desperate doesn't it).

Keep reading

Ash.


	8. Chapter 8

**_Disclaimer: _**It's my plot and Rowling's Character and everything. No money is being made (everyone knows that).

**A/N**: hi people.. I just realized that a major part of readership for my story is from the USA.. Please don't mind me using British English for e.g.: I use colour instead of color and honour instead of honor.. It's just what has come out of 12 years of schooling and 5 years of college.. It's difficult to change that though I'll try my best to change it.. For any other mistake in spelling or anything else for that matter, feel free to send me messages or put them up on review.. I hope you are all enjoying the book..

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**Harry Potter and The Prophecy As It Was **

**Chapter 8: It's not everyday that a Wizard turns 17**

Harry was woken up at midnight by dobby shouting and jumping up and down. "Happy birthday Harry Potter sir" dobby wished him.

"Thank you dobby, Now that I can do magic, I think I'll pack my stuff and leave this place. I don't want to live in this place for one more second" Harry said. He opened the floor board and dug out all that he had stored in the floor. He thought clearly to the things that he wanted arranged in his trunk and cast the spell "_pack"_. Everything in the room flew into the trunk and fell into it in a heap. "So much for packing things with a simple spell. Just look at the heap, I'll never be able to close the lid. My first spell on my 17th birthday had to go wrong. What an omen!" Harry said.

"Allow me to help Harry Potter sir" dobby snapped his fingers and the trunk was packed neatly. Harry took Hedwig's cage and put a hover charm on his trunk and made it follow him. When he went down, he saw the lights were on. Petunia was in the living room reading a book. It wasn't anything like usual. As soon as she saw Harry she got up.

"I knew you would be leaving as soon as it struck 12, I won't stop you, you have too many horrible memories of this place to want to stay here." Petunia said.

Harry really wanted to say that the memories that she was talking about were all given by her but he bit his tongue and said nothing.

"Happy birthday dear" petunia said and handed him a small bag "its 16 gifts for each birthday that you spent with us" she had tears in her eyes.

"Aunt Petunia, thanks a lot, I never thought you cared" Harry stuttered, he was shocked beyond belief.

"I know you must be wondering what all this is about, let me explain. Please take a seat" she said, he sat down facing her.

"When you were brought here, professor Dumbledore told me everything about that night when your mother gave you that protection. Lily and I had planned it that way, you were to live with me till you turn 17. The conditions at the moment when the enchantment was cast had to be kept constant till you were 17. I had to induce fear in you so that your mother's protection stays. I really love you Harry, Lily was my sister and I loved her. We had a great time when we were young, I was good friends with James too. Vernon never liked them and he doesn't like you either. I'm not very sure about Dudley, he always wanted to play with you as a child, but we could not let that happen. I'm really sorry for the way you have had to spend your childhood, I won't wish it on anyone, but it's a sacrifice that your parents made and now you are in the middle of it all. I made you a birthday cake for you, please take it with you. And please keep me informed about everything." Petunia was in tears by then and she hugged Harry. It was all too huge an amount of information to take in at once. But the moment petunia hugged him, old memories rushed back to him, he remembered the same sensation during his first birthday.

"You came for my first birthday didn't you? Were my parents in hiding then" Harry asked.

"Yes, they were at Godric's hollow, they went into hiding when she was pregnant with you. Lily was working on the blood protection to protect you. James had tried altering the future, but he realized that the only chance at winning the war was to let thing be as they were.

"What do you mean by altering the future?" Harry asked.

"Once they knew about the prophecy, he tried looking at alternate futures. I really don't know the details of it, except that they already knew you well when you weren't even born. They didn't tell me much fearing for my safety. It's all still fuzzy to me, may be it makes sense to you." She answered.

A beam of light came through the key hole in the door, and then the knob turned. Harry took a defensive stance with his holly wand in right and the new one in his left.

The door opened slightly and he saw that it was Ginny peeping in.

"What are you doing here, I was just on my way to the Burrow." Harry asked.

"Yeah well, we expected you to be there a by now and I got worried when you didn't show up even after quarter past 12." She came inside and hugged him "Happy birthday Harry".

"Thanks Ginny" Harry replied "I was just saying bye to my aunt, she made me a birthday cake"

Ginny was alternating to stare at the cake, the gifts and Harry, clearly she didn't understand anything.

By then Ron came in "what's taking you two so much time, we need to get back before mom finds out. Happy birthday Harry".

"Thanks Ron, I'll be there in a minute" Harry replied to Ron and then turned to his aunt "Thanks aunt Petunia, please tell Dudley that I said bye to him. I'll keep in touch and the fire place is still connected through the floo network to the Burrow, so if you ever need help, just shout out, you must be knowing how to travel by floo I presume." Harry said.

She hugged him again "Thanks Harry, your parents would be very proud of you. I don't mind you using the floo, to reach the Burrow, I think it would be safer."

Harry called Ron inside and they all flooed to the burrow.

"Where have you two been, beds empty, traveling cloaks gone, no broom in the cupboard, someone could have seen you" Molly screamed and then she turned her attention to Harry "Happy birthday dear, but I'm not letting you off the hook this time, you seem like you were ready for travel yourself. Where do you think you were off to? Tonks reported back to me, when these two arrived at your place. At least you had the sense enough to use floo instead of flying back."

Just then Tonks popped out of the kitchen. "Wotcher Harry! Happy birthday"

"Hi Tonks, thanks, it's great seeing you, while you were spying over me, you could have actually given me some company. So who are you working for now, McGonagall or Kingsley?" Harry joked.

"Oh don't be like that Harry! You know I'd never do that." Her hair color shifting from neon green to pale pink and her cheeks getting an unnatural blush.

"I would not suggest flirting with Harry in front of my sister" Ron laughed at the poor attempt by Tonks.

"So, how is Remus? It's been long since I've spoken to him." Harry enquired.

"He is good, but ever since we got engaged he has become boring, I like you better now, Harry" Tonks continued to joke.

"I don't want to see the end of this, you might not like it" Ron said.

"Why, dear Ronninkin is scared for me, how sweet, but remember dear, I'm an auror, I care take care of myself" Tonks was playing around.

Harry was wishing feverishly "Ginny don't do anything to give us away, that's what she wants, I think she suspects something." Somehow magically he heard Ginny answer back "don't worry Harry, I know she is kidding around, she thinks of you as her godson now that she is engaged to Remus and that's how Remus feels about you. So no problem there. I would have burnt anyone else down by now."

"Ginny, how are we talking" Harry asked

"I thought you were in my head, I thought you did legilimency on me" Ginny replied.

"I would never do that Ginny, you know that, we need to talk, excuse yourself, we'll go to Ron's room" Harry said to Ginny through the link that had been established mysteriously.

"I'm sorry Tonks, I would like to stay and let you play around with me a bit more, but Ginny and I have to deal with something really urgent" Harry said. Ginny excused herself as well and they both ran to Ron's room.

Tonks huffed "children these days have become really forward" Ron just snickered knowing well that it was nothing like what Tonks was imagining, but who was he to spoil her of a few moments of fun.

"Ron, will you please ask Harry to go back to your room for the night, we'll discuss this further in the morning" Molly instructed.

Ron bade them both goodnight and left for his room. When Ron entered his room, Harry and Ginny were sitting at the two ends of the bed and staring at each other.

"Do you want me to come in later or can I stay, if this is all you are going to be doing then I might as well get some sleep" he joked.

"Sure suit yourself" Ginny replied to him telepathically.

"How did you do that" Ron shrieked "you are messing around in my head get out".

"She is not messing around mate, do you hear me" Harry asked.

"Why are you staring at me now, can she get into your head too" Ron asked Harry.

Ginny and Harry switched to talking normally.

"I don't know how he did it, but I just heard him talk into my head, that's why we rushed up. And I am not doing legilimency either. You and I can talk telepathically, so can I and Harry" Ginny replied.

"I tried talking to him but I didn't reach him" Harry added.

"Let's wait for Hermione to join tomorrow morning. You can try it out with her. Tonks and mom think you two are upto something, it seemed a bit weird the way you rushed up. I just didn't know why you were so anxious to get out of others earshot, I almost caught that you were talking to each other all the while, just didn't know how" Ron said laughing as Ginny's face turned red. Harry joined Ron laughing at the situation. After a while Ginny went back to her room to sleep. That night Harry and Ginny chatted for a long time over their newly found link.

The next morning Hermione came into Ron's room and hugged Harry "Happy birthday" she said and added in a whisper "dearest brother" and gave him a peck on his cheek.

"Thanks Mione" Harry tried saying it telepathically but she just kept expecting him to reply so he repeated it out aloud. Then he asked Ginny telepathically to talk to Hermione. She tried but it didn't work either. And she asked Ron telepathically to try it.

"I love you Mione" Ron communicated.

"So do I" she said out aloud, and she realized in a moment that Ron had not spoken at all. "What are you doing, how did you do that, you didn't even use your wand so that was not legilimency. Do you know that he is able to do that." Hermione asked.

"We can't understand it completely. Ron can talk to you and Ginny. I can talk only to Ginny. Why can't we talk that way." Harry questioned.

"We must ask the book, but now is not the time, Let's go to the bank" Hermione said.

"What for?" Ginny asked

"Harry needs to go their and take over the family vault and there are a few more things" Hermione said.

Soon they were all at the table. As soon as Molly joined the table, Harry got their attention and got a small box in the size of the match box wrapped in velvet wrapping paper.

"Oh no, I am not letting you do that" Molly said "She's too young for that" her nerves were already overworked from controlling herself from questioning them about their mysteriously leaving the living room the previous night.

Harry chuckled "No Molly! It's not what you think. I would ask your permission before ask your daughter's hand in marriage. You need not worry on that account. But be sure that I will do that as soon as I finish school" he said, Molly looked relieved.

Ginny was laughing. He did the enlargement charm "_Engorgio_" and the box expanded to its original size. "This is for you Ginny" Harry gave it to her.

"Why am I getting a gift now? My birthday is eleven more days from now" Ginny chipped in but was tearing at the gift anyways.

She opened the box to find a broom. Harry started explaining its properties.

"It's made of tungsten. The metal can withstand temperatures of upto 3410◦ Celsius. The torch burns at 1300◦ Celsius. So your broom is going to be safe. It's coated with Carbon which has even higher melting temperature than tungsten. To give you better control of a broom, platinum has been embedded into it, it's a high density metal with a reasonable melting point of 1768**.**3 °C . Just don't try burning it to test it. It's the only piece that was made. The controls are shifted to the leg to give you better hand movement" he said showing her how to work the pedals and the breaking system.

"Thanks Harry" she said telepathically "I really love it, don't worry I won't burn it, what is the bristle made of"

"That is Tungsten wool plated with iron for density" he replied over the link.

"I got a present for you too, considering it's your birthday, I should be the one giving you gifts" she said.

"You have already given me yourself, what more can I ask for" he said.

"May be this" and she threw a golden snitch at him. "A snitch of my own. Thanks a lot Ginny. Now we can have a proper match in your backyard" he said.

"Guys you are staring at each other and giving different reactions without actually talking. Mom is getting a bit freaked. Do damage control" Ron told Ginny over the link.

Ginny realized that Molly was actually staring at the two of them. She conveyed the situation to Harry and they both pretended to have been practicing dumb charades.

"We are getting really good at dumb charades. Ron could not even guess what we were saying" Ginny said. Molly was not entirely convinced but let it go.

"Nice save there" Ron told her over the link.

Once their breakfast was over, the four of them left for Gringotts. They were met by Ragnok. "Good Morning , how do you do!" Hermione said.

"Good morning miss Granger, Miss Weasley, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley. And please allow me to wish you many more happy years to come Mr. Potter." Ragnok wished.

"Thank you Mr. Ragnok." Harry replied

"Please follow me Mr. Potter" Ragnok instructed, to the others he said "please feel comfortable here. We'll be back momentarily"

Harry followed him to another room, in the centre of the room there was a stand on which a brass vessel filled with clear liquid was kept. Ragnok proceeded towards the vessel and Harry followed. From inside his coat, Ragnok took out two vials filled with blood. And he poured two drops from each vial into the vessel. He stirred the content using a glass stirrer. The liquid started glowing with a pale while light. "Please place two drops of your blood on this stirrer" Ragnok instructed.

"Fixius pretium" Harry recited and pricked the tip of his fore finger with his wand, and placed two drop of blood as instructed.

Ragnok said enchantments and stirred the liquid. When he stopped the liquid started glowing even more. He asked Harry to dip his wand into the liquid. The wand would become the key to his vault.

Harry was confused whether to tell Ragnok about his predicament. Which wand to dip? Ragnok read his confusion and asked him if there was any problem. He told Ragnok about the problem and Ragnok suggested that he keep the new wand a secret and to only use it under dire circumstances. So Harry dipped his old wand and it immediately glowed.

"Don't worry Harry, we will keep this liquid preserved in a vial with us. Incase your wand breaks, you may dip your other wand in the liquid, but for now there is no need for it. Now we can call Miss Granger in to join us" Ragnok said. Soon Hermione was escorted into the chamber by a goblin.

After taking out a portion of the liquid into the vial, he instructed Hermione to prick her finger and dip it into the solution. Hermione did as she was instructed.

Soon all the glowing liquid could be seen entering into Hermione's finger tip and mixing with her blood stream. By the end of a long enchantment that Ragnok sang, the liquid had returned to its original clear state.

"You are now brother and sister by law and by blood. You will go by the name of Hermione Jean Granger Potter. Congratulations" Ragnok said.

They both hugged each other and when they returned back to Ron and Ginny, Hermione kissed Ron.

"Ron! I don't remember you ever asking my permission to go out with Mione! And I also remember how you made me plead to you the night Ginny and I got together after the match last year" Harry said.

"Yes, I remember that. She's my sister, I had a right to bash you down" Ron answered "What's that got to do with Mione and me"

"Harry don't torment him, its fun though" Hermione thought to Harry and surprisingly Harry heard it.

"Mione! I can hear you" he told her telepathically.

"Well I don't want you kissing her anymore in front of me alright" Harry said trying to maintain a straight face.

"But why? You never had a problem with public display of affection, what's gone into your head now, what did they do to you in there" Ron asked.

"Because I am her brother now. That's what they did inside." Harry said. The amazed look on Ginny and Ron was priceless.

"You are kidding right" Ginny asked.

"No" Harry replied "She is Miss Potter now"

"It's true, but I am still going to use Granger except in Wizengamot" Hermione said.

"This is all too much to take in at once" Ron said.

At that very moment McGonagall was going through the student records and she noticed that Hermione's name had changed to Hermione Jean Granger Potter.

She quickly walked to the floo and called Molly, "Did you know that Harry and Hermione are married. I just saw her name change to Hermione Jean Granger Potter in the school record book."

"That is not possible, just this morning Harry told me that he would propose Ginny when he got out of school" Molly said in a distressed tone.

"Well the record book does not lie. It never has. Please let me know if get to know more. This is a rather strange turn of events." McGonagall said and the fire went out.

"So what do you want to do now? Would you like to come with me to the vault? I am going to search for portraits of my parents" Harry said.

"And I am going to swim in gold" Ginny said "Because I can".

"And I am going to keep an eye on my sister, see that she doesn't steal from her future vault" Ron said.

"I might be interested in the contents of the vault, I think there will be a lot of antique stuff and loads of books" Hermione said.

"You sounded like Mundagus, did you know?" Ron asked.

Hermione just smirked. "Let's get going" Harry said.

Harry requested for Griphook to assist him. Griphook arrived with a large grin and greeted all present. "You don't know Mr. Potter how much increment I get because of you. Every time a goblin I requested by name, their salary is increased by 5% of the withdrawal made by the client. And you have always been generous enough to take enough gold at once to last the entire school year" Griphook said.

"Well I am glad I could be of help to you Mr. Griphook" Harry said "I wanted you to be the one present when I open the family vault."

"It's a great honour Mr. Potter." Griphook replied.

They went down to the very end of the trolley track and then dismounted the trolley and took a chain hoist to reach the lower levels. Once they reached the lowest level of the bank they got out and Griphook lead them through various twists and turns to a vault that didn't have any number, instead it had the Potter house crest. There was a coat of arms in silver and small floral motif in gold and at the top was the Gryffindor lion.

Griphook asked Harry to write his name on the vault door.

"_Flagrate_" he whispered and wrote his name on the vault door.

"Now please write the names of the people you wish to be allowed inside with you" Griphook instructed. Harry wrote the names of the other 3. They all entered inside.

Griphook said that he would return after an hour.

Soon all four were going through various stuff. Harry found a portrait of his parents wedding just like Ginny had told him. The portrait of lily and James stirred.

"Is it Harry?" Lily asked

"Yes mum!" Harry replied he was openly weeping now. The other three gave him privacy and went into another room.

"We knew you would come for the portrait, that's why we recorded everything until October 3rd 1981 in this portrait, we didn't bother getting another painting commissioned. Please don't mind us not asking about you. This is only our shadow, and we also know that you must have suffered a lot due to the requirement of the blood protection enchantment. We are sorry we could not be there for you. We love you very much and we'll always be watching over you. You are our baby after all" Lily said.

"Don't worry son, we'll be meeting soon, though we will have no idea about you and you'll have to convince us that we have a child, you'll understand more when you read your mother's letter which is on the writing desk. Bring your friends along, we would like to know them" James said.

"Once you finish the task that you must do, we'll have a lot to chat about. We are capable of teaching you a lot of things as we made sure that all our knowledge was embedded into this painting. We won't be able to talk to you like you are 17 because we will always know you as a baby, except for that one day we met you when you were not even born. Now you must go. We'll have time to talk more. Please shift this painting to the Potter Mansion. Ask Griphook about the mansion, he'll guide you there." Lily finished.

Harry called out the other three and told them about the strange things his parents had talked about. He got to the letter. It was in his mother's hand writing. It was so neat that one would be ashamed to even touch it. Harry held it close to him and cherished the thought that his mother had touched the same piece of parchment 16 years back. It read,

_*********************************************************************_

_My dear Harry,_

_Your father and I are very proud of who you have become in spite of all the problems you have faced. We love you very much. We want you to always remember that._

_We know that you have the wand made of fairy dust core. Fairies have always been considered masters of deception, because of their power to time travel. They can switch dimensions. Since you have the power of the fairies, you are capable of time traveling along with your companions. You must travel to January 12__th__ 1980 morning. That is the day on which Dumbledore was interviewing Trelawney at Hog's Head. You must be present there and alter the prophecy. The true prophecy is the one that we heard directly from Trelawney during our 7__th__ year at school. We were walking near the lake, where the squid lives. Trelawney apparated to the main gate and walked to us saying that she had something important to tell us and she recited the prophecy. She is not a fraud, she does have the true gift of the seer, but she is in great danger if Voldemort finds that out. You must jumble up her mind until such a time when Voldemort is no more a threat. _

_The true prophecy is:_

_**`The one with the power to vanquish th'e- Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies … and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not … and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can die while the other survives … the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies …'**_

_The nature of the prophecy is such that Voldemort will want to take you captive and keep you locked up in a prison so that he never dies. Your lives are attached in such a way that he will live till you do and you will live till he does. You must change what he gets to hear, because he will come to know of the prophecy sooner or later._

_It is also the day when we defy Voldemort for the third time. We went into hiding that very day. The battle was being fought in Hogsmeade village. _

_Do not try to change the events. Do not break the chain or a paradox will be created._

_We love you very much Harry._

_Your mother _

_Lily._

**********************************************************************

He re-read the letter a lot of times then he asked Hermione "what do you think of this Mione?"

"It makes sense Harry, if the prophecy said neither could live while the other survived then it would not be possible for the two of you to have lived for 2 whole years together. And I think it's also true that he won't die till you are alive because the 7th horcrux we are looking for is you. The night when he gave you that scar and all his other powers, it's possible that he transferred a part of his soul to you. Unintentionally of course" she said.

Ginny just stood there dumb struck. She was happy that the actual prophecy didn't mean that he could be killed any minute, but this was just worse.

"We'll figure it out. Just for now, let's get back home and research on a spell to take us through time. Apparently I have done it before, I should be able to do it. I'm sure the books that Molly gave will help" Harry said.

They went back to the Burrow, and got down to researching the spells for time travel. Just then Molly burst in and looked at Harry and Hermione and yelled "Explain yourselves".

They both just stared. Finally Harry asked her "Molly what did we do to upset you".

"You got married to each other" Molly answered "Minerva told me about it"

"No mom" Ginny answered "she is not Mrs. Potter, she is Miss Granger Potter. Harry adopted her as his sister."

"Oh dear! You kids gave me an heart attack." She hugged Hermione and Harry "Congratulations dears, I think I'll bake you a cake. I am extremely sorry for my outburst. I should have known better about my own children" and she left.

"That was a compliment I think" Ginny chipped in "she called you two her own children" that lifted the mood a bit and the four got back to studying through the art of spell creation.

None of them went down for dinner that night and they were all sprawled out on the rug in Ron's room. They didn't notice that they had gone to sleep studying.

When Molly came in with the cake she saw that they were really tired and levitated Ginny and Hermione to Ginny's room and floo called the Grangers to let them know that everything was alright.

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	9. Chapter 9

**_Disclaimer: _**It's my plot and Rowling's Character and everything. No money is being made (everyone knows that, do I have to write this for every chapter.).

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**Harry Potter and The Prophecy As It Was **

**Chapter 9: May be the Mirror of Erised did show the future.**

The four of them woke up the morning following Harry's birthday. Hermione felt disoriented but everything came back to her slowly. She used the fire place to floo back home. She returned back in some time. Everyone was having breakfast. Molly had informed Harry that he was scheduled for apparition license test the following day and that Arthur would take him to the ministry at 10 o'clock the next day.

"I asked the book about time travel last night" Hermione said in a hushed tone "It said you need to decipher a spell and will the fairy magic to take you to the time you want to go."

"There are so many combinations of the words 'take us to the past.' How do we know which one is correct." Ginny asked.

"Why can't we just use a time turner" Harry asked.

"Because most of them were destroyed in the department of mysteries when we went there and a few which are remaining will not be issued to us. But even if they were, we won't be able to use them to travel 17 years through the time barrier. The time turners were made using fairy dust. Each time turner needs dust from at least four fairies. The fairy population was on a decline because fairy hunting. A restriction was made in 1948 that only the dust of fairies that are dead may be collected. Though it was a good judgment, the dust collected from dead fairies has very less potency. The maximum that my time turner could take me was 7 hours. Since your wand has active fairy dust willingly given by a fairy, you can travel almost a thousand years. More than that would need a fairy who willingly escorts you." Hermione concluded.

"You said your time turner could take you back 7 hours" Ginny asked "when did you have it"

They related the entire 3rd years of theirs to Ginny. "Well I just thought your 3rd year was the one year without any adventure for you, turns out there has never been such a year. The stars must have shined really bright the days you three were born" she joked.

"Let's talk about it after our breakfast" Ron said.

They finished their breakfast and went to Ron's room which had become their substitute for the Gryffindor common room.

"What are the combinations that we have? Let's put them all together" Hermione asked.

They compiled all their combinations on one paper.

_Take us through time_

_Change the time_

_Reverse the time_

_Take us to the past_

_Take us back in time_

"So what does all this translate to" Ron asked.

_take nos tergum in vicis_

_change vicis_

_verto vicis_

_ostendo sum vicis_

_take nos ut preteritus_

"Which do u think is correct" Harry asked.

"I think it's for you to answer, it's very possible that that none of these will work" Hermione said.

"Why don't we ask Molly" Harry asked.

"What do we explain to her, do we tell mom of our plan" Ginny asked.

"No, we could tell her that it's just for our charms assignment, and she will anyways think that we won't be able to get this to work." Harry answered.

They went to Molly and presented her with the problem. She read through the list and she said that _ostendo sum vicis _would be the best of all that they had thought of. Then she suggested '_Go back in time peragro vicis'. _She also explained that there would not be any use of the spell as long as they didn't have fairy dust.

"Fairy dust is the only substance on earth that has shown the capability of breaking through the time fabric" Molly added.

"What other substance which is not from the earth shows the capability to break the time fabric" Harry asked.

"I see you caught that, there is a planet in the outer extremes of our solar system, which has two suns as its centre. It's said to be the fastest planet. It keeps disappearing and appearing for random periods of time. Most workers at the department of mysteries believe that the planet has material that can traverse through time on it's surface. We don't know how to test it, since _accio_ did not work for summoning the rock from the planet. Dumbledore had tried it. He was the most powerful wizard in the world and if it could not be summoned by him then we don't know what else can." She answered.

"What about the wand movement. How do we know which spell needs which type of a wand action?" Ginny asked.

"Do you remember Wingardium leviosa, the swish and the flick? It demonstrates the picking up of the object and initiating the action. It's a way of directing the flow of magic. I want you to recite the spell but not do any wand movement." Molly instructed Hermione.

Hermione followed and surprisingly the parchment at which she was pointing rose up.

"How did that happen" she enquired.

"Your magic and concentration are both strong enough that it does not need you to specifically direct it using any wand movement. All spells taught after do not have wand movements, because by then the magic has stabilized and is focused enough. Didn't you ever think about all the spells you have learnt since your 3rd year didn't have any movement." Molly asked.

"No, I just thought that there was a restricted movement and I copied whatever style the teacher was following. I never thought that it was just some random action" Hermione replied.

The others nodded as well. "But still there are spell that need to be directed with the wand movement even by adults. Only the strongest wizards could do those spells without a wand movement. For example the security wards. I don't suppose even Dumbledore could cast a fidelius Charm without moving his wand. But you could try this without wand movement, its order is equivalent to that of apparition, and apparition does not need wand movement." They tanked Molly and returned to Ron's room, "so we try _peragro vices_" Harry asked.

"Sure what's wrong in trying" Hermione said.

"We might as well get prepared, what if it works" Ginny said. They all got their wands and tied the wand holsters to their arms. They put on their traveling cloaks, Harry fished out the marauder's map. He got out his new wand, the other three placed their hands on his shoulders.

"Now concentrate on the day when Trelawney met Dumbledore for the job interview, we need to make her do things the way she did." Hermione instructed.

"Oh! By the way, once we get there, how do we get back? Did you think about that?" Ginny asked.

They all immediately dropped all that they were carrying, "good you thought of that before Harry actually cast the spell" Hermione said as they all sat down to think of the various combination of words for coming back to the actual time line. They came up with,

Go forward in time

Reverse time travel

Go back to the start

And many more but it just didn't feel right. Harry reasoned "my mom was good at charms, maybe she would help once we reach there. Anyways, we do get back, we are not trapped in that timeline, so why don't we just reach there first, we can try everything else once the work is done. Hermione thought to herself "he is being a bit impatient, but who would not be, if they were getting to meet their parents who are dead, and his logic sounds right" she shrugged and said "I guess you are right, lets get going then, and be ready for a battle, those days were worse than it is now, there were more death eaters, and don't trust anyone" the others nodded.

Harry cast the spell "_peragro vices_" and a golden glow engulfed all four of them, to them it felt like they were being carried off by a cloud of golden rays. Suddenly the glow disappeared and they were standing in the middle of no where. "Where are we?" Hermione asked.

"I know where we are" Ron said "it's where the burrow would be built in the future, I recognize that birch tree."

"Ok, how do we determine that we have come to the right year" Hermione asked.

"The best way would be to hogshead and check if Trelawney has shown up for the interview. How do we get there? I know you two have not apparated till now because you were waiting for my license, and I appreciate the sentiment, but you will need to side along apparate us, it's the fastest way" Harry said.

"Ok, I'll take Harry, you take Ginny" Hermione offered.

"That should be fine" Harry said.

The four of them apparated to a secluded clearing in the woods, next to the bar.

They saw that Trelawney was showing her works to Dumbledore, they went into the bar and sat down in a corner. Hermione slipped out an extendable ear from her pocket and slid it towards Trelawney.

She was telling Dumbledore about the various prophecies that she had made and was about to start telling about the one made for Harry. Harry read her mind and put her in a trance, he altered her memories and instructed her sub conscious to act like she was a fraud, then he reached out his mind in all directions and sensed that Snape was just outside the window. Harry instructed her to recite the false prophecy, as if it was being made for the first time. Meanwhile Dumbledore cast a silencing shield around the two of them, so that only Dumbledore could hear it. Soon after that Dumbledore and Trelawney left.

"Well that's over now I want to meet my parents, I wonder if they would be in Godric's hollow or the Potter mansion. Since Dumbledore has not told them any thing about the prophecy being heard by anyone, they must still be there" Harry said.

"Should we apparate there or make a floo call, they would be shocked if you apparated in front of them saying you were their yet unborn son" Ginny asked

Just as they were deciding, they heard a woman scream around the corner, they could not see anyone. It was followed by an explosion at tricks and jokes. They rushed there. They saw behind the counter were two twins who were brown haired older versions of Fred and George. "That's uncles Gideon and Fabian" Ginny said "they died before I was born". They were surrounded by 4 death eaters. "Hurry! We need to help them" Ginny shouted. As soon as they reached inside the shop, they started dueling against the death eaters. Even though it was 4 against 6, the death eaters were almost winning. "This is pathetic" Ginny shouted "Mione splash water on the fireworks, so that they don't explode on us." Hermione, was in a conflict of her own, she didn't want to upset the balance of nature, but she knew that the situation at hand would get worse, she was struck by the words in the book, 'directing the element from some where will not have any expenditure of natural resource elsewhere'. She thought of the black lake. She willed the water from the lake to vapourize and fly to her. Once she saw the water, she directed the vapour to coat every object in the room. "I am done Ginny, but don't summon fire, direct it from somewhere instead". Meanwhile Harry, Ron, Gideon and Fabian were tiring off. Harry was shielding Ginny and Hermione with one wand and occasionally throwing off curses. Ron was trying to use both wands effectively but was failing miserably. "Ginny saw the fire in the floo network was burning and she hurled the entire burning wood on the 4 death eaters. While they were distracted for that split second, Ron stunned one of them, his uncles stunned one each as well. The fourth death eater managed to douse the fire, but he wasn't good enough to outdo six wizards at once. He was stunned in a few moments by Hermione.

"They were really good!" Harry said "thank goodness they are not so smart in our time. I would not have survived this long otherwise." Suddenly he remembered that they were talking in front of Ron and Ginny's uncles.

"Hello!" he offered.

"Thanks for the assistance, we were doomed if it hadn't been for you four coming in at the right moment. I am Fabian Prewit and this is my brother Gideon. And since you saved our lives, you may take anything you want from our shop, though it is all ruined now due to some absurd moist cloud that covered them but I guess it's better than all the fireworks blowing up in our faces." Fabian said.

Suddenly there were more places bursting into flames. They saw through the window, a group of death eaters marching up the Hogsmeade village blowing up houses and shops in their stride.

"There is Bellatrix Lestrange, the one next to her must be Rudolphus, there is Lucius Malfoy, I can't recognize the others beneath their masks" Harry said "We need a plan, we are awfully pathetic at duels, and somehow they are much more powerful"

"First is that we must not show ourselves to anyone" Hermione said.

Fabian got them four masks. "Here, use these, I don't understand why but if it helps, use it" he said.

Harry didn't want anyone hearing the conversation so he switched to telepathy, Hermione relayed whatever was being talked about to Ron.

"_We should try and not use the elemental powers not only because there will be disturbances, but also because the Flamels are alive in this period and they may stop the elements from obeying us, they are much more experienced so they will be able to outstrip us._" The others agreed.

While Hermione spoke, Ron relayed it to Ginny.

"_Ok, when you need assistance talk telepathically, do not call each other by name, we don't want anyone to find out who we are. Use any spells you can, these people are not worth just stunners_" Hermione finished. Harry and Ron exchanged a look, but there wasn't more time than that.

The battle had started in earnest, aurors had arrived. They could also spot order members in the crossfire. The four ran to assist them, curses and hexes were being exchanged. A few of the curses they could not even recognize. Suddenly a beam of green light passes close to Ginny, just behind her it hit a shop and it's wall exploded. Harry produced a shield to block the shards of glass from hitting them. He heard Hermione's voice in his head "_you are the best among the four of with shields, shield the three of us, keep Ginny close, use both your wands for shielding. I need to take my mind of shielding to throw a few curses._" Harry agreed to it and cast the _protego_ with his old wand and a more powerful spherical shield that engulfed all four. It allowed curses to exit the shield but not enter it.

Soon they were in the centre of the battle, while Harry stood in the centre with Ginny back to back with him, Ron and Hermione were on his left and right respectively. They were fighting five death eaters. Thankfully Harry was able to hold the shield against most of their attack. Suddenly a streak of green came hurling towards Hermione. Harry ended the protego charm and levitated a piece of wood into the path of the killing curse. The wood burst into flames and splinters flew in all directions. Harry's concentration started wavering, his strength was depleting fast, he asked them to come closer to him so that he didn't need to keep his shield spread out. He asked Ginny "_can you keep an eye on any spell that strays into the sphere, I need to switch to offensive mode. I will keep the sphere going but with me concentrating on throwing curses it will waver. Use object to deflect the killing curse. The sphere won't stop it." _Ginny nodded and cast a shield charm with her left wand and was occasionally throwing curses, when she was sure that they would hit the target.

Harry started using curses that even Hermione had not seen. They were dark magic. While he kept the sphere shield going, he was trying to bring the number of death eaters down by not stunning, but by out rightly killing them. On the closest death eater who had used the killing curse which had almost reached Hermione, Harry did an entrail-expelling curse. Hermione stood there watching this in shock. Harry spoke to her over their link "_Mione, this is war, they are not going to spare us, we should not either. These people have killed innocent people and they do it with pleasure. Going to Azkaban does not make a difference to them, they just wait to get out and kill more. Don't show them mercy, they won't show you any." _When Harry finished, he saw a new light in Hermione's eyes, her eyes which had always been brown, were turning electric blue. The death eater next to Hermione began shriveling down in size. Harry realized what she was doing. She just sucked out all the water from his body to put out the flames in the house that he had set on fire. Harry turned back to the next death eater closest to them. He used a sectumsempra curse to cut the death eater's chest open. The next death eater was taking cover from the corner of a shop. Just when Harry's sphere flickered he sent a curse that dislocated Ron's shoulder. Had it hit his chest as it was aimed, Ron would have died, seeing this, Harry summoned the wind to carry the death eater out of his hiding. The death eater did not know what was happening. His mask fell off, it turned out to be Lucius Malfoy. When he realized that he was not in control, he apparated away. But just as they thought that the battle was turning in their favour, they heard a huge scream. There was fire rising high in one of the houses, death eaters dragged two women out of the house. Suddenly Voldemort appeared. He dragged the younger woman who must have been the daughter of the older one, and he slit the throat slowly inching in a millimeter a second. The girl shrieked in pain. The mother could do nothing. Voldemort said " go tell your beloved head master that if he does not give up the ministry within the next week, there will be no people left to fight for." With that he pierced his wand into the girl's throat and threw her to the older woman. It all happened so soon that the four of them had no time to react to it. Just then five people apparated directly in front of Voldemort and his death eaters.

"Why ask a poor old woman to be a messenger, scared to face us directly?" James mocked. Lily was right behind him shielding him. Dumbledore had taken care of the three death eaters around them. Frank and Alice Longbottom were just besides Dumbledore. Voldemort threw a killing curse at Dumbledore but fawkes appeared out of nowhere and swallowed it. The dueling started in earnest. They realized that Voldemort of their times was just a mere shadow of the one they were seeing here. He was effortlessly handling four fully trained aurors and Dumbledore. Harry noticed that a few death eaters were nearing the group. He communicated it to the others and they rushed to give the five a cover while they fought Voldemort.

Voldemort managed to hit Dumbledore with a bluish black curse and he started to shiver and writhe. Alice took his hand and apparated away. "_Keep an eye on the death eaters, don't think twice about killing them if need be. My parents need help, keep your backs to Ron's and mine_" Harry ordered. The other followed and took their positions. Harry stood next to Lily and Ron stood besides him. Many curses were exchanged. All of them were getting tired but there was no sign of fatigue on Voldemort's face. All of them had severe cuts and bruises. Hermione and Ginny were having a tough time keeping 3 death eaters at bay. His parents were brilliant. He had never seen better co-ordination. But Voldemort was so fast that all Harry could see was a mixture of coloured beams. He could not distinguish one curse from another. Even worse was that Voldemort was doing it wordlessly. He didn't speak anything. Lily flung a ball of fire at him, he effortlessly brushed away. Hermione saw that the fire ball was headed towards a book shop near by and willed the water of the lake to douse it. Voldemort got past their defenses and sent a bone vanishing curse at James. In his attempt to save his father, Harry jumped up into the path of the curse which was aimed at James chest. The curse hit Harry's leg and his bones below the knee vanished. His mask fell off. Ginny caught the scene from the corner of her vision and panicked. She shouted "Harry, are you alright?"

"_Talk over the link, don't say anything aloud_" Harry told Ginny over the link. He wasn't in pain but his movement was restricted.

"So that is what they call you Harry" Voldemort mocked "A mere child thinks he can defeat me, when trained aurors are not able to keep up with me. You will die at my hands just like the potters and the Longbottoms will and so will your friends who wear that mask as if that will keep their identities hidden from me."

"Believe me Tom, you are the one who dies at my hands not the other way around" Harry replied, his anger rising.

"_Calm down Harry_" Hermione's voice came over the link. He is baiting you. You mustn't divulge too much information to him."

"How dare you call me by my name, you will pay for it" Voldemort's eyes shone red and he conjured a snake and hisses to it in parseltongue "_kill him_"

"_Your master is evil, would you serve him willingly. You may go into the jungle and live a peaceful life. Do not harm anyone but your prey_" Harry hissed back, the snake bowed to him and left.

Voldemort's rage was now out of control "I am the heir of Salazar Slytherin, how dare you over rule my command" he kept throwing curses but his rage was making him loose his concentration and Lily, James and Ron were able to get past his defenses, Voldemort slowly but surely was shifting his stance from offensive to defensive.

"Yes Tom, we know your mother's lineage as well as your father's. If you are the heir of Slytherin, then it must have been you who opened the chamber of secrets when you were in school and not Hagrid. It's really sad that the last surviving heir of Slytherin is a half-blood." By then more order members had arrived and Voldemort knew his cause was lost, he apparated away. Lily caught hold of Harry, "hello Harry, I am Lily and this is my husband James Potter. Let me take you to St. Mungos. You need to have your bone regrown" she said.

By then Harry was in tears, he was finally getting to meet his parents. He hugged Lily, who was a bit taken aback, she was herself only 21 then and didn't know what to make out of it, but she let him hold her. Frank went back to the Longbottom manor to get things ready for the order meeting.

James stood aside, not knowing what to say at the sight of his wife being hugged by a complete stranger who very strangely resembled him. "Mind if I break this emotional union" he chipped in when Harry didn't show any sign of letting her go.

Harry wiped his tears and just when James thought he could question Harry about hugging his wife, Harry literally pounced on him and gave him a hug that could have rivaled even padfoot's hug.

Ginny and Hermione stood next to him, both were in tears because they could feel the emotions pouring out of the link. Finally Ginny spoke to Harry loudly so that they could all hear "Harry, they don't know you yet, you have to explain" she turned towards lily and said "are you living in the Potter mansion or Godric's hollow. We should go home and discuss this".

Lily looked clueless for a while but then she decided that since they were fighting against Voldemort, they must be allies. "Very well, I'll create a portkey to the entrance of the Potter manor, we will need to authorize your entrance into the castle once we reach there" lily said.

"No, please create a portkey directly to the living room, we all have access to it" Harry said.

Lily's eyes opened wide, but she recovered in a moment. She created a portkey out of a stone which was lying near by. They all touched it and Lily activated the portkey. They were all in the living room.

"It's beautiful Mrs. Potter" Ginny said.

"Thank you. Please call me Lily" Lily said.

Once they were all comfortable, Harry who was sitting next to Ginny started "I am Harry Potter." Before he could say anything James said "you are lying I have read the entire family tree, there is no Harry in the tree, my father Harold is called Harry at times, but you are definitely not him".

"My name is not there on the tree yet, it will be there on 31st of July. I am your son." He was trying really hard to keep his emotions in check but it showed that he was in an emotional turmoil. Lily was shocked.

James put a hand around her, "you should explain everything, from the start. It's a bit hard to believe but I can see you time traveled, since your fashion is different."

"And you do look a lot like James" lily said "and my eyes".

They had completely forgotten about Harry's leg when a numb feeling started settling in, Harry called the Potter house elf whose name he had read in the property documents at Gringotts "Tracy" the Potter house elf appeared. "Master called" Tracy said looking at James.

"No Tracy, I called, I am Harry Potter, we will meet again after 17 years, when we do meet again please call me Harry and not master. I need your assistance, can you please bring be a bottle of skele-grow potion, mix it up with some pumpkin juice please" he said.

The elf was confused but when Lily nodded to her, she went to get the potion. She came back within a moment. Once Harry had taken the potion, the pain that accompanies the re-growing of bones followed.

Then they explained the whole story about how they found a letter from her in the vault on Harry's 17th birthday and how having a fairy wand core helped in coming back to past. Lily asked "Tell us what happened before that." So Harry told them everything about how Voldemort had killed them on the Halloween night when he was a year old and about him living with petunia who was very cruel throughout his childhood only to find out that it was the necessity of the blood protection that Lily gave him to become fully functional. He told them about his school. He introduced Ginny, Ron and Hermione to them. He told them about Sirius's death.

Lily interrupted "Harry, if Sirius fell through the veil, he can be brought back. Let me get a book for you." She came back soon with a thick leather bound book. "Here, you'll be able to get some help from Catherine Lovegood. She is part Dryad, she was working in the department of mysteries until the regulation to ban all non-human beings from working in the ministry was put into place. She can see through different dimensions of the universe. She will help you. Give this book to her, only she or her heir can read through the entire content of this book."

"Harry I don't want to interrupt, I know how much this means to you, but we need to get back. The three of us will research on spells to take us back. You can spend some time with your parents, but when we come back we must leave." Hermione said.

Meanwhile, Voldemort was trying to figure out the incomplete prophecy that Snape had eavesdropped on. "Born as the 7th month dies" he pondered to himself. I must wait till the end of July. Then I will kill all children born on the 30th and the 31st. I wonder who that boy was. Well once those infants are wiped off then there will be no one to defeat me, but what is the end of the prophecy". Snape had heard "Neither shall live while the other…." I need to know the end of the prophecy.

After about 3 hours of searching through the library and finishing their lunch which Tracy had brought up for them, they went down. The sun had started to set. Hermione showed the list of combinations to Lily. But Lily said "You need not create a new spell, just reverse the process which you did for coming back in time, you must go to the place where you arrived. Can you make a portkey?" she asked them. They shook their head.

"Let me teach you." Lily said.

"It's a restricted spell dear, are you sure you want to teach it to them, I don't mind doing it for u. I don't want you regretting it later, I on the hand will be proud to have broken a law or two" James humoured, Lily rolled her eyes.

"Apparently, ministry is being run by some good for nothing fools in their time, I don't mind teaching it to them myself, I won't be there to face the consequence anyways" Lily said and then realized what she had just said. "I am sorry dear" she said to Harry "I did really hope to get to spend more time with my baby, but from what you say, I think we have to let fate take it's course." Harry nodded.

She switched to teaching mode, which came easily to her as she had volunteered to train new auror recruits the last summer. She taught them the portus spell. Only Hermione managed to do it successfully.

"Can you please try it with me till I get, I don't remember anything you taught me, I want to remember you when I do a portkey spell." Harry said.

"Of course dear, that is what parents are for anyways" Lily said. She worked with Harry while James worked with Ginny and Ron. It took about 30 minutes for all of them to get it right.

Lily asked Ginny "What colour do you like the most the most dear".

Ginny was a bit surprised but she answered anyways "I like the Gryffindor house colour the best".

James whistled "That's my girl!" lily laughed and added "no dear, she is your son's girl".

They laughed for a while over Ginny's and Harry's embarrassment.

"Well anyways, I know you two love each other very much and you two are as good as engaged to be married so we'll get a room ready for you in the Gryffindor colours. It's a gift to you both from us for your wedding. And we won't forget the two of you" Lily said looking at Hermione and Ron, Our son's sister is obviously our daughter, what colour room décor do you want?"

"It's not necessary Lily" Hermione said.

"We know Hermione" James said "but it's what we want to do, won't you just humour us two old people, though I dare say I am any old."

She looked at Ron and then answered "I have always like dark blue and bronze".

"That is how you will find your room dear" lily said "now lets us portkey to the place you arrived". Hermione made the portkey and they appeared at the plain site which is where the Burrow stands in their timeline. "This is where we live." Ron told them "there is a house that should have fallen long back had it not been for the magic which held it up, that is how Harry described it to me. I never thought there was any problem with the house until I saw Privet Drive"

"You should get going dear, remember that we will always love you" Lily said as James and Lily hugged Harry and then they proceeded to hug each of the others. "Have a good life. Dumbledore always told us that love was the most powerful magic, from what you have told us, I think it's true. With Dumbledore gone, you don't have anyone who is as powerful as Voldemort standing besides you, you should practice, get an auror to train you. I am sure they won't deny you the opportunity. Get Sirius back from there. Tell him that we are sorry we could not change the things for him, even though we knew they are going to happen."

They hugged Harry again. He was in tears but steadied himself and cast the spell to take them back to where they came from "verto_ peragro vices_" and concentrated really hard on his present timeline. A golden glow engulfed the four of them. The last thing Harry saw was his parents hugging each other and waving to them.

They saw around them, they had returned to Ron's room. Harry asked Ginny to accompany him to her room over the link. He closed the door. He could not contain his emotions any longer. It felt like loosing his parents all over again. He fell into her arms and cried his heart out. And she just held him, the winds changed course. The eucalyptus swayed in the wind and bent down to touch the ground. The garage, in which Mr. Weasley kept his muggle stuff, blew off. That night the winds lasted till mid night. Hermione had to leave with her parents to Australia the next day. She came in to check on Harry, but didn't wish to disturb him. She asked Ron to tell him that she will see him soon and left.

Molly enquired about Harry and Ginny when Ron came down with Hermione to say bye to her. Hermione asked Molly to not mind Harry being in Ginny's room that night, since he was having a terrible time. When Molly had gone up and checked, Ginny signaled her to be quiet. She peeped into the room and found Harry sobbing on Ginny's shoulders, she wished she could comfort him, but she left thinking he needed some time alone, whatever the problem was.

Later that night when Harry was a bit more stable, he told Ginny about what he had seen in the mirror of Erised. "Do you know about it gin" he asked. She shook her head.

"The inscription on the mirror reads '_Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi' _when read using a mirror it says 'I show not your face but your hearts desire'. That night for a few moments I had held hope that maybe in future I would get to meet my parents and I believed I would. Dumbledore told me that it's a mirror that shows what your heart desires, but maybe it shows the future in a skewed way. The night I defended the philosopher's stone, I saw myself holding it in the mirror and then actually found it in my pocket. Dumbledore told me he saw himself holding nice woolen socks in the mirror, I gifted it to him last Christmas. There is just one test left to prove that the mirror does show the future. If Ron becomes the head boy and the quidditch captain then I'll know for sure that it shows the future too." Harry said.

A/N:

Hello everyone.

I hope you liked the chapter. I am so hooked on to this that I am not giving enough time to my project work. Thanks for reading.

Please review. I love reviews (who doesn't?). and please forgive me if there is something really wrong with the spells. I have never studied latin ever in my life. Let me know if there is something wrong.

Take care

Keep reading

Ash.

ps: i wont be updating till 19th of may.. i am really sorry, got stuck up with other stuff.. i am finishing college on 18th, will hv plenty of time then (i hope).. will update regularly after that..


	10. Chapter 10

**_Disclaimer: _**It's my plot and Rowling's Character and everything. No money is being made.

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**Harry Potter and The Prophecy As It Was **

**Chapter 10: Back from Australia.**

It had been a week, since Hermione had left for Australia with her parents. Ron had told Harry and Ginny about his plan to erase their identity to keep them safe from the war. During the week the three had found out that Catherine Lovegood was Luna's mother from Molly. They remembered having heard that Luna had lost her mother when she was really young. When they went to the Lovegood residence they were told by the house keeper that Luna and her father had gone on vacation for knargle hunting.

Around 11 o'clock the floo turned green, and Hermione popped out of it. Ron rushed to hug her. She was in tears. Harry put an arm around her shoulder while Ron still hugged her. It took her a while to calm down as she had just altered her parent's identity. Ginny got her a cup of tea.

"Mione, I promise that this war will end soon, we'll get them back as soon as it's over. It's the best course to take right now." Harry tried to assure her.

"Yes, I know, but it does not make it any easier to know that your own parents don't know who you are" She sobbed.

"I know Mione, I just went through that a week back, but I am glad that things have worked out the ways it has. Come on now, cheer up, we didn't know what to do without you for a week. We have literally been sitting around, playing exploding snaps, we need you to be constantly at us." Harry said.

She smiled a bit. "So you have actually done nothing about anything. No research on the pensieve, no lead on who Catherine is?"

"No, we do know that Catherine is Luna's mother, she died when Luna was really young, and Luna is out on Knargle hunt with her father. Her house keeper says that they'll be back by the end of this month"

"So that leaves us with nothing to do for an entire month, except try finishing our home work" Ron said "Ginny does not even have that to do."

"Unlike you, I did not spend my time doing nothing. I know how to make a pensieve, so that is what we are going to try and construct" Hermione said as she rolled out a parchment which had elaborate diagram on it.

They all leaned over it. After staring at the parchment which had a lot of runes and numbers inscribed on it Ron asked "I can't make heads or tails of it. What is it."

"It's a representation diagram Ron. Every magical object derives it's magical properties from the raw material that it's created from. For example your family clock derives it's properties from the metal and the wood. It's more efficient when the constituent item are charmed rather than the whole object at once. Now this is the diagram of each item and the rune that will hold it's powers." Hermione explained.

"So what do we do with it" Harry asked.

Hermione was growing impatient. "We create the pensieve in the order that this diagram suggests. First start with the seven gemstones that hold the light. Then encase it in the bowl where you wish to store the memories. And then secure the energies in the stones by inscribing runes where the gem stones are placed."

"That means we are going shopping" Ginny said "What all do we need".

"We must first get a bowl made of ivory, at the center of it, we fix a diamond. When a light ray enters the diamond at the center it will split into 7 colours at each plane of the diamond. These rays must be trapped within the gemstones of the corresponding color."

"Mione! I really appreciate what you are trying to do, but we are not going to get this however hard you try, so why don't you tell us what has to be done and we'll just do that" Ron suggested.

"Oh alright. I need an ivory bowl, a large diamond of the best clarity, and red ruby, fire opal, amber, emerald, sapphire and amethyst. Once we get these we must treat each of them separately" Hermione said.

"Getting these won't be a problem" Ginny said "I have seen Fred and George working with a lot of gem stones in their labs. And even if they don't have it, they'll buy it for us."

"I'll get them to the floo" Ron said as they all headed to living room.

Ron threw in the floo powder and got George over at the floo.

"We need a few things from your lab" he said sending a parchment with all the requirement in it through the floo network.

"Bloody hell! What are you guys thinking. This will cost us our shop." George shouted.

Ron pulled his head out of the floo and conveyed the message to the other.

"Tell him I'll pay for it, but ask him to keep our names out of it while purchasing them" Harry said.

Ron conveyed the message back to George.

"When do you guys want it?" George asked.

"As soon as possible" Ron told him.

"What's in it for us" George asked.

Ron got out of the floo and repeated the question for other.

Ginny went through the fire.

"If you don't want mom to know that Angelina and Alicia have been spending more time with you than is considered appropriate then we will have all that we asked for by tomorrow morning" Ginny said.

"How did you know of that?" George seemed shocked.

"Well I try to be a good sister and know everything about my brothers" she replied giving him an innocent look.

"You have learnt well Ginny, I am proud of you. Meet you tomorrow morning at the breakfast table" he said and the fire died away.

"It's done" Ginny said.

Hermione spent the rest of the studying the properties of each of the gemstone, while the others tried to be interested in understanding the runes and the arithmancy. As much as Harry wanted to construct the pensieve, he just wasn't any good at interpreting the runes. So he left it for Hermione to read.

The next morning they all gathered at the dining table eagerly awaiting the twins arrival.

They kept staring at the fireplace for the fire to turn green. An explosion in the fire place caused the four of them to jump out of their chairs and Molly came running out of the kitchen to check if they were all fine.

There was a dark green smoke that was sparkling and Fred and George stepped out of it a second later. They were jumping with joy and hugging each other. Hermione and Molly had an expression of horror pasted on their face, while the others just stared in confusion.

Hermione was the first to recover "What were you idiots thinking trying to pull stunts like that" she sounded exactly like Molly so much so that Molly switched to staring at Hermione.

"Ignatia Wildsmith will be so proud of us" Fred chimed as they both did a small dance.

"We are going to call it the floo sparkle" George said.

"It's better than the old floo, there is no number limit on the people traveling through the floo at once. Also you just have to think of your destination and not speak it aloud. We are going to present it to the ministry for it's approval" Fred explained.

"We are going to make huge profits on this one" George added.

"It's really great guys, good work" Harry congratulated.

Molly went off to the kitchen to continue her work. Fred got a miniature trunk out of his robes and enlarged. It had all the required materials. Hermione checked each gem stone for clarity. They were perfect. The four thanked the twins and then the twins decided to fill up the stomach while they still could with their favourite pie freshly out of the oven.

Once the four reached Ginny's room, Hermione started instructing the others on the treatment that each gem stone. Each had to be treated for 7 days after which it could embedded into the ivory bowl.

"Where did u find this information Mione? I am sure it was not there in the library" Ginny asked.

"When I went to Australia, we visited a rock which had a very captivating history. The Ayer rocks, its also called Uluru by the locals there. The legend has it that this rock is so strategically aligned to the earths magnetic field and holds a powerful light source at the bottom of a pond within the rock, and the light gets trapped by the various crystals in the pond, creating a natural pensieve. I studied its structure, and came up with the miniature version of it." Hermione replied.

"What memories did it contain, the Ayer I mean?" Ron asked.

"It had loads of memories of aborigines, their daily life events. It was all unsorted. But I could not see enough of it, coz I had to be with my parents" she replied

Soon the wrapped up the work for the day, there wasn't much they could do. They left the ruby, opal and diamond on tray which ginny had lighted up to continue burning for 7 days. The emerald had to be wrapped in a turmeric leaf coated with vanilla extract. The sapphire was dipped in water and kept by sunlight and Harry created a tiny whirlwind to keep the amethyst fed on fresh air to cleanse it.

Fred and George were still at the table, so they decided to play a game of quidditch, which Hermione agreed to grudgingly. The six of them came back home by lunch time.

Harry felt a sharp hunger pang in his stomach. Just before he could understand why he was so hungry, even though he had had so much for breakfast. Then he realized that his stomach felt just fine, then why was he feeling so hungry, along with feeling full. He put the thought out of his mind, and grabbed some food. He heard Ron say "the pie is delicious". He suddenly felt the urge to have bowl of soup. Ron asked his mother "Mum, can you make me some soup please" Molly answered "sure dear, give me a minute". Then suddenly he felt the urge to smell himself. He was very much confused. All of a sudden his focus shifted to wanting to feel all warm and cozy in Ron's embrace. He abruptly stopped eating. His spoon made a loud noise as it hit the plate and all of them looked up at him. He was so confused, he went over things again in his mind. Did he always like Ron that way and just didn't know about it. No! his mind screamed out. Hermione strained to hear his thoughts, he was trying hard to shield it.

"What is it Harry? What is disturbing you?" Ginny asked.

He looked at her and decided it was best to share it with her over their link since he dint know how to explain it anyways. After a while Ginny decided to break the silence. "I think Harry is experiencing our feelings" she stated.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked

"He has been felling hungry since morning even after having breakfast" she eyed Ron for a brief moment "and he felt like he wanted to smell himself" Harry and Ginny both turned red, only Harry was not sure why Ginny was blushing "and he felt like he wanted to be wrapped up in Ron's arms" and she burst out laughing. Hermioine stared at Harry, not understanding what happened. "Don't you get it, he is feeling things we are feeling" Ginny said ultimately. Harry looked relieved. "I thought there was something wrong with me all of a sudden I felt like different people" Harry said "I didn't know Ron feels so hungry all the time".

"And i really think that we should give these two more privacy. Hermione really needs some time alone with Ron" Ginny said to Harry as she started sniggering.

Soon they were all out of the house, with nothing much to do for the day. "What do you want to do today?" hermione asked.

"Don't know, maybe a trip to Diagon Alley!" Ron suggested.

"How about a trip home?" Harry asked with a look of longing in his eyes.

"Thats a good idea, i would like to see my future home too" Ginny quipped in.

They packed up a picnic basket and left for the Potter mansion. A strong sense of nostalgia hit them. Just a week back they were in this very same place and yet it was 17 years ago. Harry could see the large spread of greenery and imagine his parents talking a stroll. For the first time in his life he could imagine his parents as people, because till yesterdayit was only the memories of his parents that Sirius and Remus had been kind enough to share and a few glimpses that he remembered from the dementor episodes. It was the same place his parents had lived in and loved so much. His home. Finally, a place that was his, a gift from his parents. To a muggle, it might look like four teenagers were staring at nothing in particular, because the whole of the mansion was hidden under the fidelius charm. They checked if anyone was noticing them, when the found that the path was virtually empty, Harry opened the rusting but still magnificent gate with an allohomora. The gate creeked open.

As soon as they stepped in a shiver ran down their back. They stood alert, wands at ready. the plot was hidden, there was no chance that anyone else would have been able to enter the wards without Harry's permission, then what was this strange magic. had the wards gone weak over the years? Once the chill passed, a golden warmth passed over Harry and Hermione, they started glowing, and it sunk into them. None of them were able to assess the magic. It didn't feel dark.

"I felt loved unconditionally when that warmth spread over me, it can't be dark magic" he looked at hermione to confirm his belief.

"i felt like i was being verified, its not a part of the fidelius charm to verify the visitor, may be your parents added extra layers of protection to the castle." hermione answered.

"And i felt the tingling glow that ran through your bodies, what was that?" Ginny asked.

"Don't know"Hermione shrugged "but i feel like we are going to find out a lot today, let's go in."

Harry pulled ginny to himself and led the group into the mansion. The living room appeared to be just the same, not a speck of dust even after 17 years of no use. "Tracy" harry called out. An beautiful house elf dressed in a frock with Potter family crest came out. She had aged. No more the same light in her eyes as they had seen in her younger self. The grief of having lost her beloved master and mistress, had pulled at her soul.

"Master came!" she squealed with an outstreached hand.

"Please call me Harry, my father was your master, i am just Harry" Harry said, hugging her back. It was very familiar. She must have cared for him when he was a baby. "How are you?" he asked her.

"Tracy is fine, just waiting for Harry to come to come of age and find Tracy. Greetings to Harry Potter's family" she said looking at the rest three. "Tracy will give you a formal tour of the mansion" She hugged each of them. Even Ron made an effort to give a decent hug back.

"It took a long while for them to go through all rooms. Ultimately, Tracy lead them to a corridor where two magnificent doors could be seen. One was maroon and gold, the other dark blue and bronze. Both with the Potter house crest on them. "These are your rooms, a gift from Master James and Mistress Lily. They wanted you to have this as your wedding gift, even though tracy assumes that it will be a long time from now. They also built two cottages by the woods for your families. Would you like to inaugurate it now, Tracy will have the lunch ready by noon."

They thanked Tracy, and parted in twos into their respective rooms. Harry winked at Ron as they closed the door behind them.

The room was magnificent. Ginny was already reveling in the comfort and luxury of the swan feather bed. The Poster bad was copy of the bed in the dorm except that it was a king sized bed. "I wonder if it is fire proof, i would expect your mother to come up with something like that. But, i would rather not test it." She sighed as she slipped further into the bed "Come on, Don't be shy! try yhe Bed its really great, and whats better is that we are in the same bed with your parents blessing" the corner of her lips tilted up , harry rolled his eyes but eager to try his gift, he got on the bed as well.

"Its great isn't it?" Ginny asked. Harry rolled over to her, holding her, with her back pressed against his chest, he said "Everything is beautiful, when you are around" he nuzzled her in the hollow of her neck and let out a sigh of contentment. He wondered to himself if this is how his father felt when he finally got to date his mother after 6 years of trying to impress her.

They checked out the study area which had self replenishing parchments, quills and ink. The bathroom was magnificent, with a large tub overlooking the woods at the boundry of the manor. By the time they had explored their suite, it was noon. "I am sure we'll have a great life here" Harry said. Ginny kissed him in acknowledgment. They remembered that tracy had the lunch prepared, so they went down to the dining area at quater past noon. They both grew hungry waiting for Ron and Hermione, who didn't show up even after half past noon. When they were through the delicious meal that Tracy had made and enjoying their dessert, Ron and Hermione returned trying to put up a calm demeanour and failing miserably at it, their hair disheveled.

"Had a nice time?" Harry asked raising his eyebrow slightly. "Sure" was all Hermione said. Ron just shrugged.

Harry decided to stay at the mansion for the night to explore more of the house, the others left for the burrow in the evening.

That evening, Harry spent a long time with Tracy, hearing stories of his parents, of his antics. Stories of his grandparents. They went through the wedding photos of his parents. His mother's research work. His dad's truck of prank inventions, some of which were beyond his comprehension. And preserved in a case were the wands that were once used by his parents, worn out, but clearly showing the marks that the war had left on it, and the hilt of the wand had gotten the impression of their palm from being held for so many years. He opened the case, to touch a part of his parents soul and essence. He felt the same warm glow that he had felt when he entered the gate. He realize that he had been in his parents thought at every moment of their existance. That was the intensity of their love for him. With tears in his eyes and love filling his heart, he went to bed. Just as he drifted to sleep, he heard Ginny's voice "I love you, Harry". he mumbled back "I love you too, for always" and fell asleep.


	11. note

hello everyone..

i am sorry that this is not the next chapter.  
the story is up for adoption.. my time constraint does not allow me to give proper attention to the story..

to all those who followed my story, thanx and sorry..

to anyone interseted in taking over from here, i hv though of the story guideline, and would like to share it with u..

love ash


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